YOUNQ  E-XPLORLKS  IN 

AFRICA 


A  SILRIILS  or  LILSSONS 
FOR  JUNIOR  SOCIETIES 
AND  MISSION  BANDS.... 


Published  by  the 

Woman’s  Baptist  Foreign  Missionary  Society 
Tremont  Temple,  Boston,  Mass. 


i 


A  Word  to  the  Leader. 


The  aim  of  this  little  book  is  threefold.  First,  to  provide  interest¬ 
ing  programs  for  the  Junior  Societies;  second,  to  interest  the  chil¬ 
dren  in  Africa  and  the  work  of  the  missionaries  there;  third,  to 
create  in  them  the  desire  of  carrying  the  Gospel  to  this  dark  land. 

The  heroism  in  all  missionary  labor  has  been  emphasized.  Chil¬ 
dren  are  born  hero-worshippers,  and  through  the  study  of  such 
characters  as  the  early  explorers  and  missionaries  in  Africa  they 
may  be  given  high  and  true  ideals  of  life  for  themselves.  The 
teacher  should  pay  due  attention  to  this  feature  of  the  book. 

The  writer  has  aimed  for  variety  in  the  presentation.  Each  chap¬ 
ter  should  be  adapted  to  the  individual  society,  the  leader  making 
any  changes  in  detail  she  may  think  wise. 

Have  a  picture  committee  who  will  be  responsible  for  collecting 
pictures  in  addition  to  those  which  accompany  the  book. 

Endeavor  to  have  as  many  children  take  part  in  each  lesson  as 
possible.  In  case  the  stories  are  told  by  the  teacher,  the  questions 
should  be  distributed  among  the  children,  each  child  asking  one. 

The  children  should  be  given  a  very  practical  knowledge  of  our 
missionary  enterprises  in  Africa,  and  made  to  feel  a  personal  re¬ 
sponsibility  regarding  them.  Try  to  develop  a  real  interest  in  the 
filling  of  the  mite  boxes. 

The  leader  should  give  in  addition  to  these  studies  any  interest¬ 
ing  facts  she  may  be  able  to  gather  from  “The  Helping  Hand,” 
“Around  the  World,”  or  the  Annual  Reports. 

The  following  list  of  books  will  be  found  interesting  and  helpful : 
They  may  be  found  in  Sunday  School  or  Public  Library: — 


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YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


Books  on  Africa 


On  the  Threshold  of  Central  Africa . F.  Coillard 

Personal  Life  of  Livingstone . Blaikie 

Dawn  in  the  Dark  Continent . James  Stewart 

By  the  Rivers  of  Africa . Butler 

Tropical  Africa  .  Henry  Drummond 

Pioneering  on  the  Congo . W.  H.  Bentley 

Wonderful  Story  of  Uganda . J.  D.  Mullins 

Day-break  in  Livingstonia . J.  W.  Jack 

Impressions  of  South  Africa . James  Bryce 


The  writer  acknowledges  assistance  from  “By  the  Rivers  of 
Africa,”  by  Annie  R.  Butler,  and  “Our  African  Cousins,”  by  Mary 
Hazleton  Wade. 


Mina  A.  Reade. 


Chapter  1. 

An  Imaginary  Trip  to  the  Dark  Continent. 

Scripture  Lesson.  Matt.  2:  1-15. 


To  THE  Leader: 

Ask  the  children  to  bring  their  geographies.  Hang  a  large 
outline  map  of  Africa  on  the  wall,  and,  as  the  story  is  told, 
let  the  children  fill  in  the  names  of  countries,  rivers,  mission  sta¬ 
tions,  etc.  This  map  should  be  kept  before  the  children  all  through 
the  course,  and  additions  made  as  the  result  of  each  lesson.  It  will 
give  variety  and  add  to  the  interest  if  pictures  of  animals,  people, 
houses,  boats,  etc.  are  used.  For  instance,  paste  the  picture  of  a 
missionary  or  his  house  on  the  map  where  the  mission  station  is 
located ;  a  picture  of  a  camel  on  the  desert,  etc.  The  aim  in  this  first 
chapter  is  to  interest  the  children  in  Africa,  and  to  fix  in  mind 
some  geographical  knowledge  of  the  country  and  people,  and  the 
conditions  under  which  the  first  missionaries  worked.  The  Orient 
Pictures,  one  cent  each,  and  the  set  of  24  for  25c.  used  by  the 
women’s  societies  in  connection  with  Christus  Liberator,  together 
with  pictures  cut  from  magazines,  will  help  to  make  your  room  a 
veritable  art  gallery  of  Africa. 

Leader: — All  aboard  for  Africa!  You  will  all  want  to  visit 
Africa,  that  wonderful  continent  so  different  from  all  other  conti¬ 
nents  in  the  world.  This  time  it  must  be  just  a  very  hurried  call 
at  the  different  countries  with  their  great  jungles,  deserts,  and 
rivers,  and  we  have  time  for  only  a  glance  at  the  strange  animals 
and  people,  but  by  and  by  God  may  give  us  the  privilege  of  going 
to  live  in  that  great  country  to  win  souls  for  Him,  and,  if  He  does,  I 
hope  we  shall  be  ready  and  glad  to  go. 

Let  us  imagine  that  we  started  several  weeks  ago  from  Boston 
(or  New  York).  We  have  crossed  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  then  south 
through  the  Strait  of  Gibraltar,  and  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  and 


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YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


are  making  our  first  stop  in  Egypt,  the  land  of  the  Pharaohs.  Egypt 
is  the  oldest  country  in  the  world.  We  find  it  mentioned  away  back 
in  Genesis.  There  are  several  interesting  stories  about  Egypt  in 
our  Bibles.  You  will  remember  those  about  Joseph  and  Moses. 
(Two  children  may  be  prepared  to  give  these  stories  briefly  in  their 
own  words.) 

Egypt  has  many  grand  and  beautiful  sights,  but  perhaps  the  one 
of  which  she  is  proudest  is  the  River  Nile.  There  is  a  pretty  fable 
which  tells  that  the  Springs  of  the  Nile  bubble  up  in  the  Garden  of 
Eden  and  serve  as  a  bath  for  the  angels.  The  ancient  Egyptians 
worshipped  their  river,  and  it  was  not  strange,  for  to  the  yearly 
overflowing  of  its  banks  they  owed  their  food,  the  green  grass, 
flowers,  and  all  that  come  to  us  with  our  refreshing  rains.  In 
Egypt  there  is  scarcely  any  rain  at  all,  and,  were  it  not  for  the  Nile, 
the  country  would  be  a  desert. 

The  Egyptian  people  are  now  largely  Mohammedans  in  religion, 
and  though  the  followers  of  Mohammet  do  not  worship  idols  and 
have  but  one  god,  they  are  very  much  in  need  of  our  Saviour.  The 
Mohammedan  religion  is  a  very  cruel  one.  Its  devotees  have  many 
forms  and  ceremonies,  and  pay  great  attention  to  prayer,  but  they 
believe  in  the  wicked  slave  trade,  are  very  cruel  to  women,  and 
know  nothing  of  the  message  of  peace  and  good  will  which  came  to 
earth  with  Jesus  Christ.  There  are  several  mission  stations  there, 
however,  and  we  hope  for  better  days  by  and  by. 

Many  noble  and  good  men  have  gone  to  help  the  Egyptian  peo¬ 
ple,  but  we  have  time  to  speak  of  only  one.  Our  fathers  and 
mothers  can  remember  when  General  Charles  Gordon  was  killed  at 
Khartoum  in  1885.  He  was  not  called  a  missionary,  but  he  took 
his  army  to  Egypt  with  much  the  same  purpose,  to  make  the  people 
better,  to  put  down  the  slave  trade,  to  be  the  friend  of  the  poor 
and  oppressed,  and  to  teach  the  people  how  to  cultivate  their  lands 
and  lead  lives  of  peace  instead  of  war.  Gordon  was  one  of  the 
greatest  warriors  in  the  history  of  the  British  army,  but  his  heart 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


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was  as  gentle  as  that  of  a  woman,  and  his  greatest  ambition  was  to 
be  a  true  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Beginning  in  Egypt  and  stretching  all  the  way  across  the  conti¬ 
nent  is  the  great  Sahara,  the  largest  desert  in  the  world.  Indeed, 
Africa  is  unique  in  many  ways.  It  has  greater  deserts,  fewer  bays 
and  inlets,  a  hotter  climate,  more  numerous  and  wonderful  animals, 
and  a  greater  number  of  savage  and  barbarous  inhabitants  than  all 
the  rest  of  the  world  put  together.  Many  of  the  animals  are  dread¬ 
ful  looking  creatures,  and  we  do  not  wish  to  encounter  any  of  them 
in  our  journey.  We  prefer  to  see  them  in  a  zoological  garden 
where  they  are  safely  caged ;  but  Africa  has  one  animal  which  I 
do  not  think  her  people  could  do  without  in  crossing  their  sandy 
deserts.  What  is  it?  Yes,  the  camel. 

Many  of  the  other  animals  have  names  almost  as  dreadful  as 
they  are  themselves.  Let  us  look  at  some  of  their  pictures,  and  see 
if  we  can  pronounce  their  names. 

Now  let  us  make  a  flying  visit  to  South  Africa  where  so  many 
hundreds  of  people  have  gone  from  England  and  America,  hoping 
to  find  gold  and  diamonds.  South  Africa  has  been  called  a  jewel 
box,  because  it  holds  so  many  treasures.  While  many  find  diamonds 
and  become  rich,  many  spend  their  lives  for  nothing.  We  Juniors 
know  that  there  are  jewels  in  Africa  worth  far  more  than  diamonds. 
They  are  the  people  for  whom  Jesus  died;  they  are  the  jewels  we 
are  going  to  seek. 

The  people  in  South  Africa  are  called  Bushmen,  Hottentots  and 
Kaffirs.  The  Bushmen  are  queer-looking  little  people,  the  men  only 
about  four  and  one  half  feet  tall,  and  the  women  not  more  than 
four  feet.  The  Hottentots  received  their  name  from  their  queer 
language,  which  sounded  as  if  they  said  nothing  but  “hot  and  tot.” 
Both  these  races  are  inferior  to  the  Kaffirs,  who  are  bold  and  war¬ 
like.  Many  of  them  are  Christians,  and  are  brave,  true  men. 

Before  leaving  this  interesting  country,  we  must  have  a  look  at 
its  great  rivers.  In  Egypt  we  saw  the  Nile,  the  most  famous  river 


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YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


in  Africa,  but  there  are  four  others, — three  on  the  west  coast,  and 
one  on  the  east.  The  Zambesi  was  discovered  and  named  by  a  mis¬ 
sionary  who  was  the  greatest  African  explorer,  and  who  has  done 
more  for  the  cause  of  African  missions  than  any  other  man.  I 
wonder  if  you  have  ever  heard  of  David  Livingstone?  We  shall 
hear  more  about  him  in  our  next  lesson. 

The  third  river,  the  Congo,  was  discovered  by  another  explorer 
who  went  out  to  Africa  to  find  Livingstone  when  he  was  lost.  We 
shall  also  study  about  him,  as  he,  too,  did  a  great  deal  for  missions. 
The  other  two  rivers  on  the  west  coast  are  the  Orange  and  the 
Niger.  They  are  both  large  rivers,  but  the  Congo  has  an  especial 
interest  for  us  because,  near  its  banks,  our  Baptist  missionaries  are 
doing  a  wonderful  work  for  Jesus. 

You  will  remember  that  throughout  the  north  of  Africa  the  peo¬ 
ple  are  largely  Mohammedans.  In  Central  and  South  Africa  they 
are  heathen  of  a  very  low  class.  They  have  no  conception  of  a  God 
who  loves,  but  worship  all  kinds  of  charms  or  fetishes.  These 
charms  may  be  anything — a  stick,  a  stone,  a  feather,  a  bird’s  claw, 
anything  that  the  wicked  witch  doctor  has  prescribed.  These  peo¬ 
ple  believe  in  good  and  evil  spirits,  but  as  they  think  the  good 
people  are  unable  to  help  them,  all  their  worship  is  given  to  the 
evil  spirits  to  appease  them  and  keep  themselves  from  harm.  Even 
sacrifices  of  human  lives  are  often  offered  for  this  purpose.  The 
need  of  a  Saviour  there  is  very  great  indeed,  as  you  will  see  from 
these  extracts  from  a  letter  written  by  Mr.  Charles  Bond,  who  is 
a  missionary  on  the  Upper  Congo. 

(Allow  children  to  give  these  extracts.) 

First  Junior: — “It  is  towards  dusk,  and  we  are  taking  a  few 
minutes  rest  on  the  verandah  in  the  cool  of  the  evening.  A  feeble 
voice  startles  one.  ‘White  man,  white  man.’  ‘Yes,  what  is  it?’  ‘I 
am  without  a  friend;  I  have  great  hunger;  my  master  has  driven 
me  away ;  I  have  no  strength ;  I  cannot  work.  Let  me  stay  with 
you  the  remainder  of  my  days !’  ” 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


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Look  at  the  old  woman  leaning  on  two  sticks — a  mere  skeleton. 
Large  sores  are  gaping  at  you  from  every  part  of  her  body.  She 
is  possibly  not  more  than  forty-five  years  old,  but  is  utterly  worn 
out,  a  helpless,  hopeless  soul.  She  does  not  represent  an  extraor¬ 
dinary  case.  We  see  and  hear  the  same  story  daily.  In  number¬ 
less  instances  in  Congo  land,  such  men  and  women  are  driven  out  to 
die.  That  is  heathenism.” 

Second  Junior: — “Who  is  this  hideous  looking  man?  He  seems 
very  much  offended  at  our  approach.  He  is  the  witch  doctor  or 
wizard  of  the  town,  dreaded  by  old  and  young  alike.  By  means 
of  a  few  shells  and  bits  of  wood  and  bone,  his  stock  in  trade  which 
he  keeps  hidden  away  in  a  bag,  he  frightens  all  the  neighborhood. 
He  is  sought  out  by  all  classes.  His  followers  believe  him  able  to 
inflict  or  to  cure  disease,  and  he  is  equal  to  all  kinds  of  divination 
and  extortion.  It  never  troubles  him  to  find  the  cause  of  bad  crops 
or  empty  fish  traps,  and  if  words  would  do  it,  in  every  case  of  theft, 
the  culprit  would  be  brought  to  justice.  Large  sums  are  paid  to 
him  that  he  may  utter  his  incantations  over  certain  towns,  houses, 
or  persons ;  that  he  may  place  a  ban  on  others  or  cause  certain  indi¬ 
viduals  to  die.  The  most  awful  part  of  the  matter  is  that  the  victims 
believe  in  this  wizard’s  power,  and  in  consequence  suffer  agonies  of 
mind.  That  is  heathenism.  For  these,  these  heathen,  Christ  left 
heaven ;  for  these  He  lived  His  life  of  sacrifice ;  for  these  He  bled 
on  the  cross.  If  we  dare  to  live  utterly  regardless  of  them  as 
though  they  were  nothing  to  us,  nothing  to  Him  whom  we  call 
Master  and  Lord,  shall  we  be  greatly  surprised  to  hear  him  say, 
‘Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not  to  one  of  the  least  of  these,  ye  did  it  not 
to  me.’  ” 

Leader: — This  description  of  the  great  forests  of  Africa  was 
written  by  Sir  Henry  M.  Stanley,  who  was  the  first  white  man  to 
explore  them. 

Third  Junior:  —  “Imagine  the  whole  of  France  and  Spain 
closely  packed  with  trees  varying  from  20  to  180  feet  high,  whose 


Chapter  II. 

Some  Early  Heroes. 

Scripture  Lessons.  Lph.  6:  14-19. 


To  THE  Leader: 

These  stories  may  be  told  by  either  leader  or  Juniors.  As  each 
story  is  told,  the  route  of  the  missionary  or  explorer  should  be 
traced  on  the  map,  stations  located,  pictures  pasted  on,  etc.  The 
heroism  of  these  men  should  be  emphasized,  and  the  class  ques¬ 
tioned  at  the  close. 

1.  The  Robber  Chief. 

The  colony  of  Good  Hope  is  in  the  southern  part  of  Africa,  and 
belongs  to  England  now.  Cape  Colony  was  originally  settled  by 
rich  farmers  called  Boers.  In  these  stories  you  will  often  hear  of 
the  Boers  or  Dutch  farmers. 

« 

Other  people  were  in  South  Africa  before  either  Dutch  or  English 
— black  people,  naked,  dirty,  and  ignorant;  and,  sad  to  say,  when 
the  white  conquerors  came,  they  did  not  treat  these  poor  people 
well.  They  drove  the  blacks  away  or  took  them  for  slaves.  In  the 
year  1817  it  was  quite  time  that  the  Boers  should  be  punished,  for 
their  cruelty  was  making  the  Hottentots,  as  these  black  people  were 
called,  furious  and  dangerous.  There  was  one  chief  in  particular, 
called  Africaner,  whom  they  had  driven  almost  mad.  Eirst  they 
took  his  land.  Then  they  made  him  and  his  brother  Titus  work 
for  them  without  any  wages,  and  very  little  food. 

At  first  Africaner  was  true  to  his  master,  and  worked  well.  But 
the  brothers  both  became  weary  of  ill-treatment ;  and  one  evening, 
when  the  master  threw  Africaner  down  a  flight  of  steps,  Titus  shot 
him,  and  both  brothers  fled  for  their  lives  to  the  banks  of  the 
Orange  River.  Just  on  the  other  side  of  that  river  is  a  country  like 
one  that  David  described  as  “a  dry  and  thirsty  land,  where  no  water 
is.”  It  is  called  Great  Namaqualand,  and  Africaner  now  became  a 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


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robber  chief  in  this  country.  Some  years  before  this,  Dr.  Vander- 
kemp  and  two  other  men  went  out  to  Africa  as  missionaries.  They 
landed  at  Cape  Town,  and  there  they  separated.  Dr.  Vanderkemp 
going  east,  and  the  other  two,  north,  to  teach  the  Bushmen  who 
lived  near  the  Orange  River.  Here  they  heard  about  the  Nama- 
quas,  the  Griquas,  the  Bechuanas,  and  several  other  tribes,  all'  in 
great  need  of  a  knowledge  of  Jesus.  And  when  the  Missionary 
Societies  in  England  heard  of  these  different  peoples  they  decided 
to  send  missionaries  as  fast  as  they  could.  They  soon  had  some 
teachers  for  the  Griquas,  and  a  mission  station  there,  but  no  one 
for  Great  Namaqualand. 

Africaner  was  a  terror  to  everybody.  Even  the  Hottentots  said; 
“We  would  rather  sleep  among  lions  than  near  Africaner.”  Finally 
two  missionaries  were  bold  enough  to  go,  and  for  a  time  Africaner 
behaved  fairly  well.  He  sent  his  children  to  the  mission  school, 
and  came  himself  to  the  services,  but  his  goodness  did  not  last  long. 
Very  soon  he  took  offense  about  nothing  at  all,  and  the  missionary 
party  had  to  fly  for  their  lives. 

But  although  Africaner  had  driven  away  the  missionaries,  he 
could  not  forget  their  words.  After  a  time  he  wanted  to  have  them 
near  him  again,  and  he  asked  to  be  baptized.  But  people  were  still 
terrified  at  the  sound  of  his  name. 

2.  The  Young  Gardener. 

Whom  do  you  think  the  London  Missionary  Society  sent  now  to 
Africaner?  A  young  gardener  called  Robert  Moffat,  who  was  not 
much  more  than  twenty  years  old.  It  seemed  a  strange  choice,  but 
God  had  chosen  Robert  Moffat  for  this  work  from  the  time  that  he 
was  born.  His  mother  had  loved  missions  all  her  life,  and  she  told 
her  laddie  wonderful  tales  of  the  early  missionaries.  She  also 
taught  him  the  three  most  important  things  for  missionaries  to 
learn — to  be  useful  and  self-helpful,  to  love  missions,  and  to  read 
the  Bible. 


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YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFIRCA 


or  two  later,  he  called  his  people  together,  and  said  to  them,  “My 
former  life  is  stained  with  blood,  but  Jesus  Christ  has  pardoned 
me,  and  I  am  going  to  Heaven.”  He  told  them  how  to  live  until 
God  should  send  them  another  missionary.  God  did  not  forget 
them,  though  it  was  twelve  years  before  the  other  missionary  came. 

You  can  imagine  that  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Moffat  received  a  joyful 
welcome  from  the  lonely  missionary  in  Bechuanaland,  and  they  did 
a  great  work  there  for  fifty  years.  During  that  time  Mr.  Moffat 
had  many  thrilling  adventures.  One  night,  when  he  was  travelling, 
he  was  surrounded  by  no  less  than  eight  lions.  At  another  time, 
when  stepping  back  out  of  the  way  of  a  tiger-cat,  he  trod  on  a  cobra. 
And  yet  another  day,  when  he  was  close  to  a  river  full  of  croco¬ 
diles,  he  saw  a  lion  on  a  rock  near  by,  just  ready  to  spring  on  him. 
Out  of  these  and  a  hundred  other  dangers,  God  delivered  His  ser¬ 
vant.  He  shut  the  lions’  mouths ;  He  helped  Mr.  Moffat  kill  the 
cobra  with  an  axe  which  was  lying  near  by ;  and  He  kept  him  safe 
as  he  swam  across  the  river,  swarming  with  crocodiles. 

When  at  last  Robert  Moffat’s  work  in  Africa  was  done,  he  and 
Mrs.  Moffat  went  home  to  England.  But  his  work  of  stirring  up 
others  to  go  to  Africa  still  went  on,  and  everywhere  love  and 
honor  followed  him.  At  last,  when  he  was  ninety  years  old,  God 
took  him  home.  We  know  what  the  welcome  there  would  be: — 
“Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant,  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of 
thv  Lord.” 


4.  Story  of  David  Livingstone 

Part  L — Preparation. 

About  three  years  before  Mr.  Moffat  first  started  for  Africa,  there 
was  born  at  Blantyre,  Scotland,  a  baby  boy,  who  in  after  years  was 
to  become  even  more  famous  than  the  great  Robert  Moffat.  This 
boy  was  called  David  Livingstone.  He  was  the  child  of  poor  parents. 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA  1 7 

and  went  to  work  in  a  factory  when  he  was  only  ten  years  old.  Out 
of  the  first  week’s  wages  he  bought  a  book. 

David  went  to  the  weaver’s  factory  at  six  in  the  morning,  and 
did  not  leave  till  eight  in  the  evening.  Then  he  went  to  a  night- 
school  till  ten,  and  studied  at  home  till  twelve  o’clock.  If  he  wanted 
to  study  longer  than  that,  his  mother  would  seize  the  books  out  of 
his  hands  and  say,  “Laddie,  ye  maun  just  gang  to  your  bed.” 

David  read  all  the  books  he  could  lay  hands  on,  excepting  story¬ 
books.  For  those  he  felt  he  had  no  time.  Even  when  he  was  out 
of  doors  he  was  studying — not  books,  but  plants,  and  stones,  and 
stars.  A  Sunday-school  teacher  of  David’s,  who  was  dying,  said 
to  him  one  day,  “Now  lad,  make  religion  the  everyday  business  of 
your  life,  not  a  thing  of  fits  and  starts;  for  if  you  do  not,  tempta¬ 
tion  will  get  the  better  of  you.”  David  never  forgot  that;  and 
when  he  was  twenty  years  old  he  gave  himself  up  to  God,  to  be  His 
utterly  and  forever.  He  kept  nothing  back.  First  he  resolved  to 
give  all  his  money  for  missions,  excepting  what  he  actually  needed 
to  live  upon ;  and  then  very  soon  he  resolved  to  give  himself  also 
to  the  missionary  cause.  When  he  was  quite  a  little  boy  he  par¬ 
ticularly  liked  to  hear  how  Jesus  went  about  preaching  and  healing, 
and  he  determined  that  he  would  go  out  as  a  medical  missionary. 

But  David  was  poor.  How  was  he  to  pay  for  his  college  and 
hospital  expenses?  He  soon  settled  that.  He  worked  one  half  the 
year  as  a  weaver,  and  with  the  money  earned,  he  worked  the  other 
half  year  as  a  student. 

Time  passed  on,  and  David  Livingstone  became  a  doctor.  The 
London  Missionary  Society  had  promised  that  he  should  go  as  one 
of  their  missionaries  to  China.  But  England  was  fighting  the  Chi¬ 
nese  just  then,  and  so  they  said  he  must  wait.  And  now  what  do 
you  think  happened?  Ah,  we  say,  “happened,”  but  it  is  God  who 
arranges  such  things.  While  David  Livingstone  was  waiting,  he 
met  Mr.  Moffat,  who  had  just  come  home.  As  the  young  man 
heard  Mr.  Moffat  tell  of  the  work,  his  heart  was  stirred,  and  he 


i8 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


asked:  “Would  I  do  for  Africa?”  “Yes,”  said  Mr.  Moffat,  “if  you 
would  g-o  on  to  some  new  places.  I  have  seen  the  smoke  of  a  thou¬ 
sand  villages  where  no  missionary  has  been.” 

So  Livingstone  asked  the  society  to  send  him  to  Africa.  “Yes,” 
they  said,  “Where  would  you  like  to  go?”  And  at  once  he  replied: 
■“Anywhere,  Provided  it  be  Forward!” 

And  now  he  went  straight  off  to  Scotland,  said  “Good  by”  to  his 
father  and  mother,  and  started  for  Mr.  Moffat’s  home  in  Bechuana- 
land. 


Part  II. — ]\Iissio7iary  Explorer . 

Mr.  Livingstone  did  not  stay  long  in  Bechuanaland.  Very  soon  he 
was  hundreds  of  miles  away  northwards,  seeking  a  good  place  for 
a  new  mission  station,  and  at  last  he  chose  one  that  was  a  favor¬ 
ite  haunt  of  bold  lions.  Now  in  Africa,  if  one  lion  is  killed  the 
others  take  the  hint  and  leave  that  part  of  the  country;  so  Living¬ 
stone  was  very  anxious  to  have  one  lion  killed.  However,  the  peo¬ 
ple  were  such  cowards,  he  had  to  join  in  the  hunt  himself.  The 
lion  was  killed.  But  the  missionary  was  nearly  killed  too ;  and  to 
the  day  of  his  death  he  bore  on  his  shoulder  the  marks  of  the  lion’s 
teeth. 

The  next  year  Livingstone  married  Mary  Moffat,  who  had  just 
come  back  from  England  with  her  father  and  mother.  She  was  a 
brave  and  noble  woman,  just  the  right  kind  of  wife  for  such  a  man. 
She  taught  the  African  women  and  children  to  read,  and  worked 
with  her  husband  in  every  way  she  could. 

Very  soon  after  his  marriage  Livingstone  decided  to  go  still  far¬ 
ther  north,  where  the  tribe  of  the  Bakwains  lived.  Sechele,  the 
chief  of  the  Bakwains,  was  not  pleased  to  have  a  missionary  in  his 
country,  but  Livingstone  won  his  friendship  by  curing  one  of  his 
children,  who  was  ill.  Later,  during  a  dry  season.  Dr.  Livingstone 
said,  “It  will  be  impossible  to  stay  here  any  longer;  we  must  go 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


19 


to  a  place  where  there  is  water.”  “I  shall  go  with  you,  and  take 
my  tribe,”  said  Sechele.  And  away  they  all  went,  with  their  faces 
still  towards  the  north,  to  Kolobeng  on  the  River  Limpopo.  Here 
Livingstone  built  himself  a  third  house,  and  here  Sechele  was  bap¬ 
tized,  and  built  a  school  for  the  missionaries,  or  rather  for  God. 
“I  desire  to  build  a  house  for  God,”  he  said,  “and  you  shall  be  at 
no  expense  whatever.” 

What  busy  lives  the  missionaries  led  at  Kolobeng!  Mrs.  Liv¬ 
ingstone  had  a  hundred  primary  scholars  to  teach  and  the  house¬ 
keeping  to  do.  Dr.  Livingstone  was  smith,  carpenter,  and  gardener, 
besides  being  preacher  and  teacher.  He  was  also  busy  making  a 
grammar  of  the  Sechuana  language,  and  of  course  he  was  the  only 
doctor  in  the  station.  Sometimes  he  was  called  far  away  to  sick 
persons,  perhaps  through  a  country  infested  with  wild  beasts,  but 
whatever  he  did  was  to  him  missionary  work.  “I  am  a  missionary, 
heart  and  soul,”  he  said  one  day;  “God  had  only  one  Son,  and  He 
was  a  missionary  and  a  physician.  A  poor,  poor  imitation  of  Him, 
I  am,  or  wish  to  be.  In  His  service  I  hope  to  live,  and  in  it  I  wish 
to  die.”  So,  with  this  grand  ideal  before  him,  we  do  not  wonder 
that  his  life  was  Christ-like  beyond  that  of  most  men.  The  natives 
of  Africa  loved  him  so  much  that  once,  when  he  was  in  danger  of 
drowning,  no  fewer  than  twenty  men  plunged  into  the  water  to  save 
him  at  the  risk  of  their  own  lives. 

Livingstone  was  polite  to  his  people,  and  he  was  so  full  of  fun 
'and  brightness  that  he  laughed,  as  some  one  once  said,  “from  head 
to  heel.”  Africans  dearly  love  jokes.  Then  he  was  so  gentle,  with 
all  his  cleverness,  that  even  the  little  children’s  hearts  were  won.  A 
little  slave  girl  ran  to  him  once,  when  she  was  treated  unkindly,  and 
he  hid  her  safely  in  his  wagon,  and  told  her  that  “fifty  men  should 
not  get  her.” 

Livingstone  hated  slavery  above  everything,  and  loved  the  Afri¬ 
cans.  Even  in  those  early  days,  both  the  Boers  and  the  Arabs 
would  take  these  poor,  ignorant  people  and  forcibly  make  them  their 


20 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


slaves.  The  Boers  would  compel  them  to  work  their  farms,  but 
the  cruel  Arabs  did  far  worse.  They  would  form  them  in  lines 
with  their  heads  fastened  into  a  long  stick,  forked  at  one  end,  which 
held  them  firm,  each  stick  being  held  behind  by  another  slave. 
How  their  necks  and  shoulders  must  have  been  hurt  by  the  hard 
rough  wood,  as  it  was  pushed  up  and  down  and  any  way  by  their 
careless  drivers,  their  heads  all  the  time  being  gripped  fast  in  the 
fork,  which  was  fastened  across  the  front  with  another  piece  of 
wood.  Slave-traders  in  Africa  take  their  slaves  in  sticks  like  this 
until  they  are  “tamed,”  which  means  so  worn  out  by  sufifering  that 
they  cannot  cry,  or  resist,  or  run  away.  Then  the  sticks  are  taken 
off  the  sore  and  aching  necks,  and  the  slaves  are  fastened  together 
with  chains  at  the  wrists, — heavy  chains  which  hurt  the  wrists,  and 
are  difficult  to  carry.  Many  slaves  taken  in  this  way  have  dropped 
down  and  died  on  their  way  to  the  coast.  No  wonder  the  slave 
trade  made  Dr.  Livingstone  very  sad,  and  that  he  did  all  he  could 
to  stop  it. 

How  could  mission  work  go  on  in  the  midst  of  such  disturb¬ 
ances?  And  yet  how  could  slavery,  which  had  been  going  on  for 
so  many  thousands  of  years,  be  stopped?  Those  were  two  great 
puzzles,  and  Livingstone  gave  the  rest  of  his  life  to  answering  them 
“There  ought  to  be  some  Christian  traders  in  the  country,”  he 
thought  to  himself,  “so  that  the  Africans  would  not  need  to  trade 
with  those  wicked  Arabs.  Yes,  I  will  try  to  find  some  good  river¬ 
way  or  some  safe  road  by  which  traders  and  missionaries  may  come 
into  Africa  from  the  east  and  west,  instead  of  coming  this  long, 
dangerous  way  from  the  south.” 

The  results  of  that  resolution  were  such  wonderful  discoveries 
that,  great  as  Livingstone  is  as  a  missionary,  he  is  even  more  famous 
as  a  traveller  and  explorer.  He  visited  lands  and  people  before 
quite  unknown  to  Europeans.  Indeed,  after  he  returned  from 
Africa,  it  was  necessary  to  draw  new  maps  of  the  country,  and  put 
in  a  great  many  new  names  of  rivers,  lakes,  mountains,  nations  and 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


2  I 

towns,  which  he  and  the  other  explorers  who  followed  him  had  dis¬ 
covered. 

All  the  time  during  his  travels  Livingstone  had  his  missionarv 
eyes  wide  open,  and  he  wrote  down  every  little  thing  that  mission¬ 
aries  and  Christian  traders  would  need  to  know  about  the  countries 
he  passed  through,  and  the  tribes  he  met.  One  thing  I  must  tell  you 
about  Dr.  Livingstone.  However  eager  and  anxious  he  was  to  get 
on,  he  never  travelled  on  Sunday.  And  God,  who  says,  “Them  that 
honor  Me,  I  will  honor”  honored  him  by  bringing  him  safely 
through  all  his  long  and  difficult  journeys.  One  of  the  very  great 
discoveries  of  Livingstone  was  that  of  the  River  Zambesi,  the  one 
great  river  on  the  east  coast  of  Africa.  He  also  discovered  the  Vic¬ 
toria  Falls  on  this  river,  which  are  almost  as  grand  as  our  Niagara. 
I  have  not  time  to  tell  vou  of  the  fine,  large  lakes  and  the  manv 
wonderful  places,  but  God  greatly  blessed  his  work,  and  when  he 
went  to  Scotland  and  told  people  about  this  wonderful  country,  a 
new  missionary  societ}",  called  the  Universities  Mission,  was 
started,  and  many  new  missionaries  were  sent  out. 


Part  III. — Close  of  a  Great  Life. 

Dr.  Livingstone’s  work  was  not  finished  yet,  as  you  shall  see.  He 
returned  to  Africa,  and  again  started  for  the  interior,  but  this  time 
what  do  you  suppose  happened  to  him?  This  great  man  was  lost 
— yes,  lost  in  the  heart  of  Africa.  The  people  in  England  and 
America  were  in  great  trouble,  for  Livingstone  seemed  to  belong  to 
everybody.  At  last  James  Gordon  Bennett  of  the  New  York 
Herald  selected  a  young  man  named  Henry  M.  Stanley,  and  said ; 
“Take  what  you  want,  but  find  Livingstone.”  Stanley  fitted  out  an 
expedition  and  went  to  Africa,  where,  after  great  hardships,  he 
found  Livingstone  at  Ujiji.  Livingstone  had  been  travelling  on  the 
left-hand  side  of  Lake  Tanganika,  far  away  to  the  north,  for  two 


22 


YOUNG  EXPUORERS  IN  AFRICA 


years.  He  had  had  no  letters  from  friends  in  all  that  time,  but  he 
had  read  through  his  Bible  four  times.  He  had  been  trying  to  find 
out  the  course  of  a  river  which  runs  across  a  large  part  of  Africa 
north  of  the  Zambesi,  and  which  Stanley  afterwards  explored  and 
found  to  be  the  Congo. 

Stanley  stayed  four  months  with  Livingstone,  and  the  two  had  a 
happy  time  together.  When  Mr.  Stanley  reached  Ujiji  he  was  care¬ 
less  and  unbelieving  about  God,  but  when  he  went  back  to  England, 
he  felt  ver}'  differently.  Livingstone’s  beautiful  life  and  his  earnest 
prayers  had  made  Stanley  feel  that  religion  was  a  very  real  thing. 

You  can  imagine  that  when  Stanley  left  Livingstone  to  return  to 
England,  Dr.  Livingstone  wished  he  might  go  too,  but  he  never  went 
to  his  earthly  home  again.  We  may  be  very  sure,  however,  that 
he  went  to  the  Christian’s  true  home,  heaven.  He  died  on  April 
29th,  1873,  at  Ilala,  near  Lake  Bangweolo,  which  he  had  just  dis¬ 
covered.  He  died  as  several  of  the  early  African  missionaries  have 
done,  on  his  knees,  praying. 

Two  faithful  servants,  Susi  and  Chumah,  who  had  been  follow¬ 
ing  their  master  everywhere,  made  up  their  minds  to  take  their 
master’s  body  to  England.  They  buried  his  heart  in  the  place 
where  he  died,  but  they  made  his  body  into  a  mummy  and  they 
carried  it  through  deserts  and  forests  to  Zanzibar ;  and  from  there 
they  took  it  to  Southampton  by  steamer,  and  a  special  train  carried 
it  to  London. 

With  many  tears  the  English  people  laid  their  hero  to  rest  after 
his  thirty  years  of  wanderings.  His  grave  is  in  the  middle  of 
Westminster  Abbey,  that  wonderful  Church  where  England’s  great¬ 
est  men  and  women  have  been  laid  to  rest. 

You  will  wonder  what  had  become  of  Mrs.  Livingstone,  who  had 
done  so  much  for  African  women  and  children.  Several  years  be¬ 
fore  God  had  taken  her  to  be  with  Him,  and  her  body  had  long 
been  sleeping  in  Africa  by  the  banks  of  the  Zambesi  river.  Prof. 
Henry  Drummond  visited  her  grave  many  years  after,  and  described 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA  23, 

it  as  an  utter  wilderness,  matted  with  jungle  grass  and  trodden  by 
the  beasts  of  the  forest. 

The  whole  English  nation  felt  that  Livingstone  had  given  his  life 
for  the  slaves  of  Africa  and  resolved  that  he  should  not  die  in  vain. 
Many  Christian  traders  joined  together,  calling  themselves  “com¬ 
panies,”  and  went  out  to  East  Africa  to  help  on  the  missionaries 
and  drive  out  the  slave-traders.  The  Church  Missionary  Society 
started  a  mission  near  Mombasa  for  slaves  who  had  been  set  free, 
and  called  it  “Erere  Town.”  In  after  years  when  other  explorers 
went  to  Africa,  wherever  they  met  an  African  who  had  known  Liv¬ 
ingstone  they  always  heard  of  him  in  the  same  way. 

A  missionary  of  the  Universities  Mission  was  travelling  one  day 
near  Nyasso  when  he  met  a  man  with  a  bit  of  an  old  English  coat 
over  his  shoulder.  He  said  it  had  been  given  him  ten  years  before 
“by  a  white  man  who  treated  black  men  as  his  brothers,  whose 
words  were  always  gentle,  and  whose  manners  were  always  kind.” 
We  know  who  that  white  man  was, — David  Livingstone. 

Questions  for  Chapter  II. 

1.  Who  were  the  Boers? 

2.  Tell  the  story  of  Africaner. 

3.  What  three  things  did  Robert  Moffat’s  mother  tell  him  were 
the  most  important  for  a  missionary  to  learn? 

4.  How  did  Moffat  and  Africaner  agree? 

5.  What  had  made  Africaner  such  a  changed  man? 

6.  Why  did  Mr.  Moffat  leave  Africaner,  and  where  did  he  go?  , 

7.  What  did  Africaner  say  to  his  people  when  he  was  dying? 

8.  How  long  did  Mr.  Moffat  work  among  the  Bechuanas? 


34 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


9.  When  and  where  was  David  Livingstone  born? 

10.  Tell  something  of  his  preparation  for  the  foreign  field. 

11.  Why  did  he  decide  to  go  to  Africa  instead  of  China? 

12.  What  did  he  reply  when  the  London  Society  asked  him 
where  he  wished  to  go? 

13.  Whom  did  David  Livingstone  marry? 

14.  Tell  why  the  African  people  loved  Livingstone  so  much? 

15.  Why  did  Livingstone  leave  his  mission  station  and  travel 
as  an  explorer? 

16.  What  great  discoveries  did  he  make? 

17.  What  beautiful  thing  happened  in  the  life  of  Henry  M. 
Stanley  from  his  friendship  with  David  Livingstone? 

18.  Tell  about  Livingstone’s  death  and  burial. 

19.  How  was  his  work  carried  on  after  his  death? 


Chapter  III. 

A  Visit  to  Banza  Manteke  and  Interviews  with 

Our  Missionaries. 

Scripture  Lesson.  Gal.  6:  1-10. 


To  THE  Leader: 

The  map  should  be  used  in  locating  the  stations,  also  use  pictures 
of  mission  stations,  missionaries,  and  Congo  scenery.  Some  of  the 
older  children  may  represent  Air.  and  Mrs.  Richards  and  Dr.  Mabie. 
They  should  be  thoroughly  prepared  to  take  the  parts  easily  and 
naturally. 

Leader  : — One  of  the  many  great  things  Sir  Henry  M.  Stanley 
did  in  Africa  was  to  explore  the  River  Congo.  You  can  imagine 
some  of  the  dangers  and  'difficulties  of  the  voyage  when  I 
tell  you  that  it  took  nine  months,  and  that  at  the  end  of  it  Stanley’s 
black  hair  had  turned  white.  Ag  he  sailed  down  that  great  river, 
as  long  as  the  distance  from  Boston  to  San  Francisco,  in  the  midst 
of  savages,  cannibals,  poisoned  arrows,  and  slavery,  he  looked 
around  him  and  longed  for  the  time  when  the  Congo  people  would 
know  God. 

Now  his  wish  is  coming  true.  Very  soon  after  Stanley  returned 
to  England  and  told  of  his  travels,  our  Baptist  Alission  was  formed, 
and  now  there  are  seven  different  missionary  societies  working  on 
the  Congo. 

The  American  Baptist  Mission  on  the  Congo  was  first  organized 
as  the  Livingstone  Inland  Mission  by  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Grattan  Guinness 
in  1878.  But  in  1884  it  was  taken  over  by  our  Alissionary  Union. 
Since  then  it  has  greatly  grown,  and  now  we  have  eight  stations, 
with  twenty-seven  missionaries,  thirteen  churches,  and  a  church 
membership  of  nearly  4,000.  We  have  also  schools  of  all  grades, 
one  college  for  training  native  preachers  and  teachers,  medical  mis- 


26 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


sionaries,  hospitals,  and  a  mission  steamer  on  the  Congo.  When  we 
realize  that  only  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  ago,  not  one  man,  woman 
or  child  in  all  that  great  Congo  valley  had  ever  heard  the  name  of 
Jesus,  I  am  sure  we  must  feel  that  God  has  done  ^reat  things  for 
Congo-land.  Perhaps  you  will  think  that  our  mission  stations 
have  very  funny  names.  The  first  station  founded  was  Palabala,  and 
the  second  Banza  Manteke.  The  others  are  Lukunga,  Alukimvika, 
Bwemba,  Kifwa,  Ikoko,  and  Matadi.  (The  leader  should  have  a 
little  drill  on  these  names,  using  a  blackboard  if  possible.) 

How  would  you  like  to  pay  a  visit  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Richards  at 
Banza  Manteke?  This  mission  was  started  by  Mr.  Richards  in  1879, 
and  has  had  a  wonderful  history.  I  am  sure  our  missionaries  will 
gladly  answer  any  questions  we  may  ask. 

We  will  just  imagine  we  have  a  fine  strong  pair  of  wings,  and 
away  we  go,  like  the  birds,  over  miles  and  miles  of  ocean  until  all  at 
once  we  land  in  Banza  Manteke.  We  wonder  how  Mr.  Richards 
reached  this  place  in  1879,  we  ask  him  about  it. 

Mr.  Richards: — The  question  of  transport  was  a  very  serious 
one  in  those  days.  I  decided  to  use  donkeys,  and  got  five  or  six  from 
the  island  of  Teneriffe.  They  were  landed  at  a  place  called  Masuka. 
We  had  to  make  our  own  saddles,  and  then  we  loaded  our  donkeys 
and  started  for  Palabala.  The  road  had  never  been  travelled  by  a 
white  man,  but  we  hoped  to  find  our  way  safely,  and  started  off  in 
fine  style. 

Presently  the  road  led  down  to  a  stream  of  water.  At  the  bottom 
lay  boulders  and  large  rocks,  which  made  it  very  difficult  to  ford.  It 
evidently  was  never  intended  for  donkeys  or  anybody  else  to  cross. 
The  first  donkeys  crossed  all  right,  but  when  it  came  to  mine  he  re¬ 
fused  to  go.  I  gently  encouraged  him  with  a  little  strap  I  had,  and 
then  he  gave  a  spring  right  into  the  middle  of  the  stream.  The 
water  was  about  three  feet  deep,  and  when  the  donkey  plunged  in, 
he  did  not  go  right  across,  as  I  expected  him  to  do,  but  quietly  sat 
down  in  the  stream,  bales  and  all.  He  seemed  to  say,  “Well,  now. 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


27 


this  is  a  very  hot  day ;  this  water  is  deliciously  cool ;  why  not  let 
me  alone  ?”  I  urged  him,  but  he  refused  to  move,  and  I  had  to  take 
a  bath  myself.  I  went  into  the  water,  took  the  bales  off,  got  the 
donkey  out,  and  started  off  on  the  other  side.  After  a  great  many 
varied  experiences,  some  amusing  and  many  otherwise,  we  reached 
Palabala  on  the  fifth  day,  a  distance  of  fifteen  miles.  From  there 
we  travelled  on  till  we  came  to  Banza  Manteke,  and  as  there  were 
a  good  many  villages  near  and  the  people  seemed  rather  friendly, 
I  thought  I  would  establish  a  mission  here. 

How  did  you  begin  your  work  at  Banza  Manteke? 

The  first  thing  to  do  was  to  build  a  house,  and  the  two  mission¬ 
aries  who  came  with  me  helped  me  to  make  a  little  hut  out  of  the 
long  grass  growing  here.  It  was  finished  in  two  days,  and  then 
they  left  me  alone  in  my  new  house.  You  can  imagine  that  when 
night  came  I  felt  a  little  lonely,  and  thought  of  those  I  had  left  be¬ 
hind.  Here  I  was  alone  among  people  I  knew  nothing  about,  not 
even  their  language.  They  might  have  been  cannibals  for  all  1  knew. 
But  I  set  to  work  to  learn  the  language. 

Was  it  not  very  difficult? 

Yes,  at  first  I  found  it  so,  as  there  were  no  dictionaries,  gram¬ 
mars,  or  books  of  any  kind  to  help  me.  When  I  wanted  food  I  would 
hold  up  a  piece  of  cloth  and  look  at  the  potatoes  and  fowls,  and  they 
would  nod  assent.  Then  I  would  take  the  fowls  and  potatoes,  and 
they  would  take  the  cloth.  After  a  time  I  got  a  few  words,  and 
when  I  learned  enough  to  talk  I  found  it  a  very  beautiful  language 
indeed.  It  is  very  easy  to  read  and  preach  in. 

Tell  us  some  of  the  customs. 

The  people  of  Congo-land  certainly  are  in  great  need  of  Jesus. 
They  are  very  ignorant,  superstitious,  and  cruel,  and  their  lives  are 
anything  but  happy.  The  poor  women  are  drudges,  and  the  chil¬ 
dren  are  uncared  for  and  ignorant.  They  have  no  religion  but 
fetishism,  and  their  superstition  puts  them  entirely  at  the  mercy  of 
the  “Naganga,”  or  witch  doctor.  His  word  is  law.  If  some  one 


28 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


dies,  they  think  he  has  been  bewitched,  and  a  council  is  held  to  dis¬ 
cover  the  witch.  They  shout  and  dance,  and  then  the  witch  doc¬ 
tor  names  somebody.  This  person  is  at  once  put  to  death.  There 
is  no  sympathy  for  him  as  he  dies.  They  mimic  his  sufferings, 
and  seem  to  find  pleasure  in  it,  though  they  know  that  the  same 
witch  doctor  may  at  any  time  doom  them  to  the  same  death. 

Have  they  any  idea  of  God? 

They  have  some  idea  of  a  creator,  whom  they  call  “Nzambi.” 
They  say  he  made  the  sun,  moon,  stars  and  everything  else,  but  they 
do  not  believe  him  to  be  a  good  god,  and  they  think  nothing  about 
him.  They  believe  in  both  good  and  evil  spirits,  but  it  is  to  the  evil 
spirits  they  give  their  worship.  All  their  customs  are  very  revolting 
to  us  when  we  first  come  among  them,  but  as  we  grow  to  under¬ 
stand  them  we  realize  that  many  of  their  sins  are  from  their  gross 
ignorance  and  darkness  rather  than  any  vicious  intentions,  and  we 
grow  to  love  them  as  brothers  and  sisters  for  whom  Jesus  died. 

When  did  they  first  begin  to  turn  to  the  true  God? 

This  was  the  time  when  patience  and  perseverance  were  sadly 
needed,  for  do  you  know,  boys  and  girls,  I  had  to  work  hard  for 
seven  years  before  I  saw  even  one  convert  turning  from  heathenism 
to  Jesus  Christ?  I  preached  to  them,  prayed  for  them,  healed  their 
sick,  and  helped  them  in  every  way  I  could.  My  wife  had  come  out 
to  help  me,  and  she  worked  hard  among  the  women  and  children  to 
bring  them  to  Jesus,  and  yet,  though  they  seemed  to  have  great  re¬ 
spect  and  confidence  in  my  power  to  help  them  in  all  kinds  of  ways, 
they  were  just  as  much  heathen,  to  all  appearance,  as  when  I  came 
to  them  seven  years  before. 

Were  you  not  discouraged? 

I  confess  I  was.  Just  then  my  wife  was  taken  ill  and  had  to  go 
back  to  England,  and  after  she  left,  I  became  very  ill  also,  and  al¬ 
most  died.  For  some  time  I  was  unable  to  preach,  but  from  this  ill¬ 
ness  came  a  wonderful  result.  As  I  lay  thinking  over  the  work  of 
the  past  years  and  studying  my  Bible,  God  showed  me  how  to  tell 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


39 


the  beautiful  story  of  Jesus  as  a  Saviour  for  lost  sinners  as  I  had 
never  been  able  to  tell  it  before. 

When  I  got  well  I  began  to  preach  from  the  Gospel  of  Luke,  and 
one  day,  to  my  great  joy,  Lutate,  who  had  helped  me  with  the  lan¬ 
guage,  got  up  in  meeting  and  said,  “This  white  man  has  been  here 
all  this  time.  I  believe  those  words  are  true  words,  and  yet  you 
do  not  believe.” 

I  was  surprised  to  hear  him  say  this,  for  I  did  not  know  he  be¬ 
lieved  himself.  As  we  were  coming  home  through  the  woods  he 
began  to  sing  one  of  our  Congo  hymns.  I  saw  his  face  shining 
with  joy,  and  he  said,  “I  do  believe  those  words.”  I  had  never  seen 
him  look  that  wa}^  before,  and  you  will  know  that  I  was  very  happy 
as  I  took  him  by  the  hand  and  gave  him  the  name  Barnaba,  which 
means  “son  of  consolation.” 

What  happened  after  that? 

He  was  my  first  convert  after  seven  years  of  waiting,  working  and 
suffering.  But  now  others  began  to  come.  The  second  convert 
was  the  king’s  son,  who  used  to  ask  me,  “How  can  I  take  out  this 
heart  and  give  it  to  Jesus?”  I  tried  to  explain  this  to  him,  and  he 
became  an  earnest  Christian.  The  good  work  went  on  until  ten 
were  converted,  and,  dear  boys  and  girls,  it  meant  a  great  deal  to 
those  ten  men  to  acknowledge  Christ,  for  they  all  had  to  leave  their 
towns,  as  they  were  threatened  with  death. 

I  decided  to  take  these  men  with  me,  and  go  from  town  to  town 
preaching  the  Gospel.  The  blessing  continued,  and  soon  we  had 
quite  a  Christian  village  springing  up  near  the  station.  We  had 
two  regular  services  a  day,  and  we  had  inquiry  meetings  all  day 
long.  The  weary  years  of  waiting  and  working  had  at  last  brought 
fruit,  and  there  came  a  day  when  I  had  a  list  of  one  thousand  names 
of  Christians,  and  Banza  Manteke  could  no  longer  be  called  a  hea¬ 
then  village. 

How  does  it  change  the  customs  when  the  people  become  Chris¬ 
tians? 


30 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


The  people  become  more  industrious  and  cleanly,  and  the  women 
want  to  dress  themselves  better.  The  dresses  which  the  Christian 
women  wear,  and  which  their  husbands  make  for  them,  consist  of 
long-,  flowing  robes,  made  close  around  the  neck,  with  long  sleeves, 
and  come  down  to  the  ankles.  They  have  a  band  around  the  waist. 
The  men  are  learning  the  industrial  arts.  They  have  given  up 
poison-giving,  throat-cutting,  and  witchcraft,  and  their  entire  lives 
are  changed.  Now  do  you  not  think  that  was  worth  my  seven  years’ 
work  ?  I  do. 

Leader: — We  think  with  Mr.  Richards  that  it  is  worth  while, 
and  we  hope  that  we  Juniors  can  do  something  to  help  in  this  won¬ 
derful  work  for  God.  Mrs.  Richards  offers  to  tell  us  about  the 
country  around  Banza  Manteke. 

]\Irs.  Richards  : — Only  a  few  miles  from  our  village  are  forest 
swamps  where  all  kinds  of  animals  are  to  be  found.  The  men  and 
boys  are  very  much  excited  when  word  is  brought  to  the  village 
that  a  herd  of  elephants  is  near.  The  men  rush  for  their  spears  and 
poisoned  arrows,  and  if  the  chief  should  be  the  proud  possessor  of  a 
gun,  this  is  the  occasion  for  its  use.  The  elephants  must  be  taken 
by  surprise,  if  the  hunt  is  to  be  a  success,  so  the  aim  is  to  catch  them 
asleep. 

The  hunters  draw  near,  creeping  carefully  until  they  are  within 
a  dozen  yards  of  the  herd.  The  best  marksman  picks  out  one  with 
large  tusks,  and  aims  at  a  certain  spot  in  his  forehead.  Two  others 
aim  poisoned  arrows  at  his  heart.  The  aim  must  be  sure,  as  a 
slightly  wounded  elephant  is  a  dangerous  creature  to  encounter.  No 
accidents  happen,  the  aim  is  good,  and  the  king  of  the  forest  rolls 
over  on  the  ground.  Then  there  is  a  great  commotion  among  the 
rest  of  the  herd.  Every  animal  is  instantly  awake.  There  is  an 
angry  uproar,  a  tremendous  trumpeting  and  bellowing.  The  forest 
echoes  and  re-echoes  with  the  sound.  The  whole  herd  madly  plunges 
into  the  forest  and  flees  in  opposite  directions  from  the  men.  As 
they  rush  on,  great  branches  of  trees  are  torn  off  as  if  they  were 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


31 


only  straws.  And  now  the  men  gather  around  their  prey,  lying  life¬ 
less  upon  the  ground.  The  women  of  the  village  appear,  carrying 
baskets.  The  flesh  is  removed  and  packed  in  these  baskets,  while 
two  of  the  strongest  men  are  loaded  with  ivory  tusks.  They  keep 
these  to  sell  to  the  traders.  The  flesh  is  eaten.  Some  of  it  is  roasted 
for  the  feast  with  which  the  whole  village  celebrates  the  success  of 
the  hunt,  and  parts  of  it  are  dried  and  smoked,  much  as  we  smoke 
ham.  An  elephant  hunt  is  an  event  long  to  be  remembered. 

We  have  many  stations  scattered  through  the  surrounding  coun¬ 
try,  and  sometimes  we  make  a  visit  to  them.  We  call  it  a  “jungle 
trip.”  We  arrange  a  caravan  consisting  of  Mr.  Richards,  some  of 
the  Christian  workers,  and  myself.  These  outside  stations  are  in 
charge  of  native  preachers  who  have  been  trained  in  our  preachers’ 
school,  and  they  count  it  a  great  pleasure  to  have  us  visit  them. 
We  try  to  encourage  them,  and  suggest  improvements  in  method. 
Then  there  are  usually  converts  to  be  baptized,  sick  to  be  treated, 
and  old  friends  to  be  seen,  so  a  “jungle  trip”  is  a  very  busy  time  for 
us.  I  will  tell  you  two  little  stories  of  a  trip  I  made  not  long  ago. 

One  woman  on  finding  that,  although  white,  I  was  really  a  woman 
and  a  mother,  said,  “Then  you  can  understand  my  troubles.  I  have 
lost  four  children.  When  the  first  died,  nothing  was  said,  but  when 
the  second  one  died  I  was  accused  of  being  Ndoki.  Then  the  third 
child  died  when  only  a  few  days  old,  and  the  people  were  very 
angry  with  me,  and  said  that  I  had  eaten  the  life  out  of  my  baby. 
I  saw  great  anguish,  and  wanted  my  baby  to  live.  I  loved  it.  Tell 
me,  white  woman,  do  you  believe  me  ?”  On  being  assured  that  her 
word  was  believed,  she  continued:  “The  fourth  child  died,  and  that 
was  taken  as  a  proof  that  I  had  killed  them  all.  Then  my  husband 
died,  and  I  was  very  sad,  and  thought  now  I  shall  be  killed,  but  for 
some  reason  my  life  was  spared.  I  now  belong  to  another  man,  but 
my  heart  is  still  sad  as  I  think  of  my  children.”  As  simply  as  pos¬ 
sible  she  was  told  of  the  loving  invitation  given  to  the  weary  and 
heavy  laden,  and  of  the  promised  rest.  She  said,  “Lazalo  has  told 


32 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


me  of  God  and  Jesus  and  about  being  saved.  Is  it  really  all  true? 
You  people  of  God  pray,  and  I  would  like  to  pray  too,  but  to  whom 
shall  I  speak?  Shall  I  speak  out  loud?  I  will  ask  God  to  forgive 
my  sins.  Will  He  hear  me?”  The  dear  woman  was  earnestly  seek¬ 
ing  light,  and  as  the  way  was  made  clear  she  seemed  to  grasp  the 
meaning  of  being  born  again.  The  darkness  was  disappearing,  and 
the  True  Light  was  revealing  Himself  to  her.  She  found  rest  and 
peace.  She  visited  me  in  my  tent,  and  on  my  showing  her  the  pic¬ 
ture  of  our  own  dear  girls,  her  amazement  was  great  on  learning 
that  they  were  not  with  us  at  Banza  Manteke,  but  were  in  our  own 
countr3\  She  held  the  photograph  in  her  hand,  not  upside  down 
as  many  of  the  natives  do,  and  looked  at  them  a  long  time  in  silence 
and  then  exclaimed,  “They  look  beautiful,  how  could  you  leave 
them?”  On  hearing  the  reason  why  we  had  left  them,  she  struck 
her  hands  together  and  could  say  no  more.  We  have  since  heard 
that  she  and  others  are  still  trying  to  serve  God  faithfully. 

In  another  place  two  boys  of  twelve  or  fourteen  were  building  a 
house  of  small  bamboos  and  grass.  The  walls  were  up,  and  one 
was  putting  on  the  rafters  while  the  other_  was  preparing  the 
grass  for  thatching  the  roof.  For  two  such  young  builders  the  work 
was  well  done.  We  had  a  delightful  talk  together.  They  told  me 
that  they  were  saved,  and  they  wanted  to  follow  Jesus,  but  they 
did  not  know  very  much,  so  they  had  left  their  own  village,  and  were 
making  a  home  there,  so  that  they  could  go  to  school,  and  be  taught. 

One  said,  “No  one  loves  God  in  our  village,  and  we  were  afraid 
we  should  not  always  be  strong  enough  to  resist  all  the  temptations 
that  kept  coming  to  us,  and  we  do  want  to  be  true  Christians.”  The 
question  was  asked,  “How  about  your  friends  there,  would  you  not 
like  them  to  be  saved,  too?”  He  replied,  “Yes,  indeed,  we  do  go 
there  often,  and  tell  them  about  God  and  His  Son.” 

Leader  : — Before  leaving  Banza  Manteke  we  must  have  a  peep  at 
the  dispensary  and  hospital.  Dr.  Leslie  is  at  present  at  home  rest- 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


33 


ingf,  but  Dr.  Catharine  Mabie  will  tell  us  of  her  work  and  the 

O  7 

people. 

Dr.  Marie: — I  am  very  glad  to  tell  you  of  our  dispensary,  and 
the  boys  who  help  me  there  so  faithfully.  One  of  them,  Ugila,  is 
most  valuable.  When  we  are  away  from  the  station  he  has  full 
charge,  and  proves  himself  no  mean  practitioner.  Dr.  Leslie  has 
had  him  in  training  a  number  of  years.  Then  there  is  Mataka.  He 
has  just  taken  a  wife,  and  seems  a  bit  absent  minded  these  days,  but 
he  will  come  out  all  right.  Johnnie,  our  latest,  is  only  a  bud  of 
promise,  but  I  want  you  to  love  all  three.  I  am  sure  you  would  be 
interested  in  a  visit  to  my  consultation  room.  They  come  from 
everywhere,  the  lame,  the  halt,  the  blind,  the  maimed,  many  terribly 
diseased.  More  than  once  I  have  thought  of  the  Great  Physician  as 
He  walked  the  hill  country  of  Judea  and  around  Him  pressed  just 
such  a  throng  till  He  had  no  leisure  so  much  as  to  eat.  One  heathen 
father  and  mother  brought  in  their  baby  so  ill  that  there  seemed 
scarcely  a  hope  of  saving  it.  We  did  what  we  could,  only  to  see 
the  little  life  go  out  while  we  watched  it.  A  half  hour  later,  as  I 
heard  the  report  of  guns  fired  over  the  little  form  to  chase  away  the 
evil  spirits,  my  heart  could  only  cry  unto  the  Father  that  He  would 
draw  the  comfortless  mother  unto  the  tender  Shepherd  who  carries 
the  lambs  in  His  bosom. 

A  heathen  woman,  not  many  months  ago,  having  been  ill  many 
weeks,  all  the  charms  she  could  purchase  proving  of  no  avail,  was 
persuaded  to  take  our  medicine,  which  a  Christian  of  her  town  had 
sent  for  without  her  knowledge.  God  blessed  its  use,  and  she  has 
destroyed  the  charms  and  declared  her  faith  in  the  God  of  the  Bible. 
The  Lord  does  bless  our  prescriptions,  and  though  the  discourage¬ 
ments  are  many,  yet  there  are  brighter  sides  as  well,  babies  with 
bright  little  faces  full  of  life  that  some  weeks  ago  were  burning 
with  fever,  great  scars  that  tell  of  dreadful  sores  cured,  grateful 
hand  shakes,  perhaps  a  bunch  of  plantains  or  a  basket  of  peanuts 
just  as  a  thank  offering. 


34 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


Leader  : — Now  we  must  say  good  by  to  our  dear  missionaries, 
board  our  winged  ship,  and  return  to  our  home-land.  I  wonder  if 
we  shall  not  want  to  remember  our  little  African  cousins  together 
with  those  who  work  among  them  in  our  prayers  that  God  may 
bless  them  all,  and  I  wonder  if  we  can’t  ask  Him  also  to  show  us  how 
to  help  them  with  our  pennies,  and  perhaps  some  day  with  our¬ 
selves. 

Questions  for  Chapter  III. 

1.  When  was  our  Mission  to  the  Congo  begun? 

2.  Name  our  mission  stations. 

3.  What  great  missionary  went  out  in  1879? 

4.  How  many  years  did  he  work  without  a  convert? 

5.  What  doctor  is  working  at  Banza  Manteke  at  present? 


Chapter  IV. 

Children  on  the  Congo. 

Scripture  Lesson.  2  Tim.  2:  1"15. 


To  THE  Leader  ; 

Make  this  a  post-office  lesson.  If  possible,  arrange  to  use  the 
window  of  the  Sunday-school  library  for  the  post-office  window. 
If  that  is  not  available,  make  a  large  pasteboard  window  frame  to 
stand  on  a  table.  One  of  the  older  boys  could  act  as  post-master, 
and  stand  behind  the  window.  Others  may  be  letter  carriers.  The 
letters  should  be  cut  out  or  copied  by  the  older  children  before  the 
meeting,  placed  in  envelopes  properly  addressed  to  the  children 
selected  to  read  them.  They  may  be  delivered  in  the  order  in  which 
they  are  to  be  read.  The  stations  from  which  the  letters  come 
should  be  located  on  the  map. 


Banza  Manteke,  Africa,  1905. 

My  Dear  Juniors: — You  ask  me  to  tell  you  about  our  boys  and 
girls  at  school.  I  am  very  glad  indeed  to  do  so.  Do  you  know,  I 
think  they  are  not  so  very  different  from  the  boys  and  girls  of  the 
United  States  after  all.  I  have  noticed,  though,  some  helps  our  chil¬ 
dren  have  in  doing  their  sums  which  I  never  saw  the  children  use  at 
home.  The  children  use  their  fingers  to  count  on  just  as  they  do 
at  home,  but,  what  is  more  amusing,  they  also  use  their  toes.  As 
they  wear  no  shoes  or  stockings,  this  is  very  convenient,  and  when 
a  scholar’s  own  set  gives  out,  she  may  be  spied  eagerly  borrowing 
the  toes  of  her  next  neighbor  to  finish  out  her  sum. 

Each  child  has  a  pen-wiper  of  her  own,  which  is  in  constant  use. 
The  pen-wiper  is  her  own  little  woolly  head,  into  which  the  pen  is 
plunged  every  few  minutes  and  rubbed  vigorously.  If  ink  is  spilt 
on  the  table  it  is  wiped  off  with  their  own  hands,  no  one  being  any 


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YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


the  wiser — another  advantage  of  black,  shiny  skin,  which,  by  the 
way,  I  am  getting  to  admire  more  than  white  ones. 

The  children  bring  the  babies  along  to  school,  and  it  is  nothing 
unusual  to  see  a  little  girl  pick  up  a  tiny  kettle  with  rice  or  some¬ 
thing  to  eat  in  it,  and  give  baby  some.  By  and  by  the  babies  get 
sleepy,  and  are  laid  on  the  floor  for  a  nap.  When  school  is  out 
baby  is  fastened  on  the  little  girl’s  back  with  a  strap,  and  off  she 
goes  with  her  burden.  They  are  very  fond  of  their  younger 
brothers  and  sisters,  indeed  quite  devoted  to  them. 

We  have  many  earnest  Christians  among  our  school  boys  and 
girls,  and  I  hope  that  you  Juniors  will  not  forget  to  ask  Jesus  to 
bless  and  help  them,  who  have  so  little  of  the  pleasure  and  happi¬ 
ness  which  comes  to  you  in  childhood. 

Sincerely  your  friend, 

(Mrs.)  Henry  Richards. 

Banza  Manteke,  Africa,  1905. 

My  Dear  Juniors: — I  am  so  glad  to  have  a  chance  for  a  little 
chat  with  you.  Let  me  tell  you  of  some  boys  and  girls  I  visited  at 
school  a  few  days  ago.  There  they  were,  about  seventy  of  them, 
sitting  on  the  floor,  learning  to  read  and^write,  to  add  and  subtract, 
learning  to  sing — and  how  they  did  open  their  mouths  to  let  the 
sound  out !  There’s  Adam,  with  his  clear-toned  little  voice — and 
stomach  that  knows  no  fiilling;  Tembo,  a  wee  maiden,  perhaps  five, 
thought  to  be  a  deaf  mute  till  recently.  Now  she  is  saying  just  a 
few  words,  chief  among  them  “tonda,”  thank  you.  Peylo,  brought 
to  us  by  one  of  our  teachers  because  she  was  about  to  be  taken 
away  from  her  town  to  settle  some  dispute,  is  a  wild  creature  to 
whom  restraint  is  quite  new ;  like  Topsy,  she  “just  growed.”  These 
are  only  three  of  the  many  poor,  neglected  children  whom  nobody 
loves,  for  whom,  nevertheless,  the  Good  Shepherd  gave  Himself, 
for  of  such  is  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven.  Truly  the  children  of 
Congo  are  children  without  a  childhood;  much  they  need  the 


VOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA  37 

bright,  cheery  influence  that  makes  child-life  so  really  happy  when 
the  Christ-child  enters  it. 

Boys  and  girls  at  home,  will  you  not  remember  the  poor  little 
tots  over  here,  who  have  never  heard  the  sweet  and  wonderful  storv 
of  Jesus  and  His  love?  Lovingly  your  friend, 

Catharine  L.  Mabie. 

Lukunga,  Africa,  1905. 

My  Dear  Friends  : — I  am  so  glad  that  you  are  enough  inter¬ 
ested  in  your  little  black-skinned  cousins  to  spend  an  hour  once  a 
month  to  study  about  them.  I  assure  you  the  more  you  know  the 
better  you  will  like  us.  I  am  very  fond  of  my  black  boys  and  girls. 

At  Lukunga  we  have  twenty-five  schools  with  nearly  600  pupils, 
all  of  them  bright-eyed  and  ready  to  learn. 

At  Kindombi  “a  small  church,”  there  is  a  little  boy  teaching  who 
gets  twenty-five  cents  a  month.  He  teaches  and  preaches.  The 
men  in  this  town  cannot  read,  and  he  carries  on  this  work  like  a 
little  hero,  keeping  the  church  and  school  together.  From  Kindombi 
to  Lukunga  is  about  twenty  miles,  and  he  walks  into  Lukunga  every 
two  months  with  the  church  collection.  A  little  child  is  leading 
them.  At  Kimani  we  have  a  school  of  thirteen  started  by  a  boy 
who  began  with  the  alphabet,  and  as  he  got  on  in  the  book  a  few 
pages,  commenced  spelling  out  Gospel  texts,  as  “God  so  loved  the 
world,”  “God  is  love,”  etc.,  and  the  work  commenced  from  this. 

Many  of  all  ages  are  anxious  to  learn  to  read,  and  the  work  is 
growing.  Pray  for  our  boys  and  girls  in  Congo  land. 

Your  sincere  friend, 

(Mrs.)  Thomas  Moody. 

Lukunga,  Africa. 

Dear  Friends: — You  wish  to  know  something  of  the  boys  and 
girls  on  the  Congo.  I  will  tell  you  of  a  little  boy  named  Mbadala. 


38 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


He  was  about  ten  years  old  when  he  was  brought  to  us.  His 
father  was  dead,  and  his  mother  was  still  a  heathen.  Mbadala 
was  a  bright,  happy,  roguish  little  fellow.  He  worked  with  the 
other  boys  in  the  garden,  and  studied  with  them  in  the  school,  and, 
best  of  all,  he  learned  to  love  the  dear  Christ-child  and  to  read  about 
Him  in  his  Bible.  The  months  passed  by  quickly,  and  Mbadala  had 
learned  to  read  and  write  very  well,  when  a  man  came  to  take  him 
away.  We  did  not  wish  him  to  go;  but  the  man  said  his  mother 
wanted  him,  so  we  decided  to  give  him  up,  and  he  went  back  to  his 
heathen  village.  Was  it  the  same  Mbadala  who  had  come  to  the 
mission  only  a  year  and  a  half  before?  He  had  grown  a  little 
taller ;  he  wore  clean,  whole  clothes ;  and  there  was  a  bright,  happy 
light  in  his  eyes.  Can  you  tell  me  why? 

Just  a  few  weeks  after  Mbadala  left  the  mission  we  went  on  a 
long  journey.  One  afternoon  we  saw  a  storm  gathering  and  hurried 
on  to  the  nearest  village  to  find  shelter.  It  was  a  heathen  village.  Sev¬ 
eral  times  we  had  tried  to  tell  the  people  of  Jesus,  but  they  would 
not  listen,  and  had  actually  driven  us  away.  Just  as  we  reached 
this  village  the  rain-drops  began  to  fall,  sct  we  hurried  under  a 
little  roof  where  we  were  safe  and  dry.  How  it  did  rain !  But 
through  it  all,  someone  came  running  to  us ;  someone  with  a  clean, 
smiling  face  and  bright  eyes.  It  was  Mbadala,  but  this  was  not 
his  village.  What  was  he  doing  here?  He  soon  told  us  his  story. 
He  knew  how  the  people  of  this  village  hated  missionaries,  but  his 
own  little  heart  was  so  full  of  the  love  of  Jesus  that  he  wanted  them 
to  know  about  Him  too,  so  he  had  opened  a  school,  and  was  himself 
the  teacher.  Every  day  twenty  men,  women  and  children  came  to 
learn  to  read  and  write ;  and  Mbadala,  a  boy  only  eleven  years  old, 
taught  them!  Was  not  that  wonderful?  They  sat  on  the  ground, 
and  Mbadala  taught  them  from  a  large  lesson  sheet  which  he  had 
hung  up  on  the  side  of  the  house.  In  the  evenings,  services  were 
held  by  some  Christian  young  men,  who  came  into  the  village  for 
that  purpose. 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


39 


And  so  the  people  of  this  rough  heathen  village  are  now  ready 
to  listen  to  the  Gospel  story,  and  some  of  them  have  already  opened 
their  hearts  to  receive  Jesus,  and  all  because  a  little  boy  did  what  he 
could  for  his  Saviour. 

Don’t  you  think  that  some  little  white  boys  and  girls  might  learn 
a  lesson  from  Mbadala?  I  think  so. 

As  ever  your  friend, 

(Mrs.)  Thomas  Hill. 

Ikoko,  Africa. 

My  Dear  Juniors: — I  want  to  tell  you  something  of  Ikoko  and 
the  children  here.  We  have  two  schools  with  329  pupils.  The 
teachers  are  native  boys  and  girls.  The  boys  do  the  carpentry,  brick¬ 
making,  and  gardening,  while  the  girls  learn  housekeeping,  laundry 
work  and  gardening.  They  are  very  ready  to  learn,  and  it  seems 
as  if  all  they  ask  of  us  is  a  chance  to  know  Jesus  and  liberty  to 
serve  Him.  I  hope  you  are  as  ready  to  help  them  by  your  prayers 
and  pennies. 

I  wish  you  could  see  our  little  girls.  They  are  from  seven  to  fif¬ 
teen  years  old,  and  many  of  them  have  very  sad  stories.  One, 
called  Nsasi,  was  picked  up  on  the  road,  almost  starved.  She  could 
not  stand  or  sit,  she  was  so  weak,  now  she  is  a  bright-looking, 
though  quiet,  little  girl  of  about  seven  or  eight  years.  She  can 
spell,  do  a  little  arithmetic,  and  makes  her  own  dresses.  Meta  was 
rescued  from  death,  too.  A  big  chief  had  died,  and  she  was  to  be 
killed  because  of  his  death.  Now  she  is  a  Christian.  She  has  done 
well  at  school,  and  can  sew,  make  a  bed,  sweep  and  dust,  wash,  iron, 
etc.,  very  nicely.  All  our  girls  not  only  make  their  own  dresses,  but 
they  make  shirts,  pants  and  coats,  which  are  sold  and  the  money 
is  used  for  their  support. 

We  have  school  every  morning  from  nine  to  twelve.  The  last 
half-hour  is  spent  in  Scripture  recitation.  The  whole  three  hun¬ 
dred  are  taught  to  recite  in  concert,  and  they  do  it  beautifully.  They 


40 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


are  very  fond  of  singing,  and  always  like  to  sing  every  verse,  even 
if  there  are  seven  or  eight.  I  think  you  may  justly  feel  proud  of  your 
dark  brothers  and  sisters.  They  are  always  pleased  with  any  scrap¬ 
books  and  playthings  which  you  send  them.  Many  of  them  are 
already  Christians. 

Sincerely  your  friend, 

Margaret  Suman. 

Kifwa,  Africa. 

My  Dear  Boys  and  Girls: — You  ask  me  about  our  schools,  and 
it  is  a  real  pleasure  to  be  able  to  send  you  this  letter.  We  have  at 
Kifwa  about  forty-nine  schools,  with  six  hundred  and  ninety-seven 
pupils,  but  I  am  going  to  write  you  today  especially  of  our  orphan¬ 
age.  Here  we  have  over  fifty  boys  and  girls,  from  three  to  twelve 
years  old,  who  have  no  father  or  mother,  and  who  depend  upon 
the  missionaries  for  everything  to  make  them  happy  and  comfort¬ 
able. 

We  have  five  classes  in  which  the  children  are  taught  spelling, 
reading,  writing,  arithmetic  and  singing  each  day.  Some  of  the 
boys  are  taught  to  make  dresses,  jackets,  shirts  and  pants  to  sell. 
The  girls  attend  school  with  the  boys,  and  work  in  the  gardens,  or 
dig  the  ground,  cut  the  grass,  etc.  They  are  very  quick  to  learn  to 
read,  and  are  bright  and  nice. 

This  is  all  I  shall  write  you  this  time,  but  very  soon  I  am  going 
to  send  you  another  letter  telling  you  how  we  keep  the  Christmas 
season  at  Kifwa. 

With  greetings  from  the  boys  and  girls  of  the  Congo,  I  am 

Your  friend, 

(  Mrs.  )  Mathilde  Frederickson. 

Kifwa,  Africa. 

My  Dear  Juniors: — In  my  last  letter  I  told  you  I  would  write 
you  how  our  little  folks  look  forward  all  the  year  to  Christmas, 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


41 


“lumingu  luamputu,”  as  they  call  it,  and  how  we  kept  our  last 
Christmas-tide. 

Word  was  sent  around  to  all  who  attended  Sunday-school  to  come 
to  the  feast,  and  you  can  imagine  that  everybody  was  on  hand.  The 
church  was  whitewashed,  large  Bible  pictures  decorated  the  walls, 
long  palm  branches  bent  toward  each  other  over  the  windows  and 
doors,  and  the  Stars  and  Stripes  were  also  in  evidence.  The  Christ- 
child  smiled  at  us  from  behind  the  platform,  and  it  does  one’s  heart 
good  to  see  how  these  little  people  love  the  picture  of  the  Saviour 
in  His  mother’s  arms.  A  large  pig  was  bought  for  the  occasion,  but 
unhappily,  it  got  loose  and  ran  into  the  woods,  where  several  men 
hunted  it  for  days.  We  were  all  very  sorry,  but  still  hoped  it  might 
be  captured,  and  this  blessed  uncertainty  kept  up  our  hopes  until 
we  could  get  another  pig,  though  the  feast  had  to  be  postponed. 
However,  we  had  a  fine  Christmas.  Nearly  one  hundred  suits  and 
dresses  of  plain,  cheap  material  were  made  for  those  who  attended 
most  regularly.  Two  young  men  had  been  busy  sewing  them. 
Christmas  morning  after  breakfast  all  gathered  in  the  church  to 
receive  them.  I  did  not  see  when  or  where  the  toilet  was  made,  but 
by  the  time  the  last  dress  was  given  out,  behold  all  stood  dressed 
in  their  new  clothes.  The  little  cofifee-brown  children  looked  very 
pretty  in  the  cream-colored  muslin  with  flowery  designs. 

At  two  o’clock  we  had  service  for  all.  Those  who  had  learned 
verses  received  little  prizes,  bright-colored  bags  for  their  books, 
needlebooks,  etc.,  and  the  girls  each  received  a  necklace  of  bright 
beads,  blue  and  white  and  yellow. 

There  was  great  satisfaction  among  the  children,  and  the  sorrow 
over  the  loss  of  the  pig  was  drowned  in  this  fullness  of  joy.  Next 
morning  some  men  came  with  another  pig  to  sell,  which  we  bought, 
and  at  dinner  the  Sunday-school  children  each  received  a  large 
piece  of  meat,  a  pocket  of  salt,  and  a  can  of  soup.  The  joy  had  now 
reached  its  climax.  Indeed,  we  sometimes  think  that  surely  the  way 
to  the  hearts  of  these  children  does  lie  through  their  stomachs. 


4^ 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


I  wish  you  could  see  them  all  at  their  meals  and  playtime  as 
well  as  in  the  school.  You  would  see  children  full  of  fun  and  mis¬ 
chief,  just  like  children  at  home,  and  I  am  sure  you  would  love  them 
all  even  as  we  do. 

It  costs  only  $io.  a  year  to  feed,  clothe  and  educate  one  of  these 
little  ones,  who  otherwise  would  be  wandering  about  the  villages 
lonely  and  miserable.  Won’t  you  try  and  help  us? 

Your  friend, 

(Mrs.)  Mathilde  Frederickson. 


Chapter  V. 

8.  Some  Other  Missions. 

Scripture  Lesson.  Matt.  28:  16-20. 


To  THE  Leader; 

Make  this  a  “story  telling”  meeting.  Three  of  the  older  chil¬ 
dren  should  be  prepared  to  tell  the  three  stories  that  make  up  the 
lesson.  At  the  close,  allow  the  others  to  vote  for  the  best  story¬ 
teller, — not  the  most  popular  child,  but  the  one  who  has  told  his 
story  the  best.  If  you  wish,  a  small  prize  may  be  given,  though  the 
honor  of  the  vote  should  be  quite  sufficient  for  the  work  of  pre¬ 
paring  the  story.  As  in  previous  lessons,  use  the  map  whenever 
possible,  also  any  pictures  that  will  illustrate  the  stories.  The 
questions  at  the  close  may  be  divided,  each  Junior  asking  one,  or 
the  Leader  may  prefer  to  use  them  herself.  Introduce  as  much  va¬ 
riety  as  possible. 


First  Story. 

How  the  Glen  of  Baboons  Changed  its  Name. 

About  twenty-five  years  before  our  War  of  Independence,  some 
good  men  in  Germany,  called  Moravians,  began  to  think  very  much 
about  missions  to  the  heathen.  Soon  afterwards  they  heard  of  the 
cruel  treatment  of  the  Hottentots  in  South  Africa  by  the  Boers,  and 
determined  to  send  a  missionary  to  them. 

These  Boers  or  Dutch  farmers  had  seized  the  land  from  the  Hot¬ 
tentots,  made  them  their  slaves,  and  now  were  treating  them  with 
shameful  cruelty.  “What  does  it  matter?”  they  would  say,  “we  are 
men,  but  they  are  only  creatures.”  Yes  “black  creatures”  and  “black 


44 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


cattle”  were  some  of  the  names  they  called  the  Hottentots,  and  they 
hated  them  with  fierce  hatred,  forgetting  they  were  God’s  children 
and  their  brothers. 

Now  the  missionary  whom  the  good  Moravians  sent  to  the  Hot¬ 
tentots  was  George  Schmidt.  It  is  important  for  ns  to  remember 
about  him,  for  he  has  the  honor  of  being  the  very  first  missionary  to 
go  to  South  Africa.  He  was  chosen  because  he  had  been  so  bold 
in  speaking  for  Jesus  at  home.  You  can  fancy  what  it  must  have 
been  for  him  to  go  away  to  an  unknown  place,  eighty  miles  east  of 
Cape  Town,  and  live  there  among  the  Hottentots  only — and  baboons. 
For  indeed  there  were  so  many  monkeys  in  the  place  he  went  to  that 
it  was  called  the  “Glen  of  Baboons.” 

George  Schmidt  went  gladly,  however,  for  his  heart  was  full  of 
love  towards  all  men  for  whom  Christ  died,  and  he  was  able  by  God’s 
help  to  do  a  great  deal  for  the  Hottentots.  He  opened  a  school  for 
their  children,  he  told  them  of  a  loving  Heavenly  Father,  and  he 
tried  hard  to  get  the  Boers  to  treat  them  properly. 

The  Hottentot  language  is  very  difficult  to  learn.  Travellers  say 
“It  is  like  the  cries  of  turkeys,  owls  or  magpies.”  George  Schmidt 
could  not  manage  it  at  all.  But  do  you  suppose  he  was  beaten?  Not 
he !  He  taught  them  Dutch  instead,  and  as  soon  as  they  could  un¬ 
derstand  it  a  little  he  told  them  about  Jesus.  They  are  considered 
a  very  stupid  people,  but  they  loved  George  Schmidt  heartily.  They 
had  never  before  had  a  white  man  for  a  friend,  and  I  do  not  wonder 
they  loved  him.  The  Boers,  however,  so  hated  him  and  hindered  his 
work  that  at  the  end  of  seven  years  he  went  to  Europe  to  ask  the 
Dutch  government  what  he  should  do.  The  wicked  Boers  did  not 
go,  but  they  sent  home  such  lies  about  him  that  he  was  never  al¬ 
lowed  to  return  at  all.  The  Boers  could  not  bear  that  any  one  should 
treat  the  Hottentots  kindly,  or  look  on  them  as  human  beings. 

But  George  Schmidt  never  forgot  them.  He  prayed  for  them 
continually,  until  a  day  came  when  he  was  found  dead  upon  his 
knees. 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


45 


You  can  imagine  how  the  poor  negroes  looked  for  him  to  come 
back.  About  fifty  of  them  had  learned  of  Jesus,  but  they  never 
again  had  a  Christian  teacher.  Some  of  them  died,  others  wandered 
away,  and  the  place  was  once  more  left  to  the  baboons. 

But  all  this  good  work  and  those  prayers  were  not  thrown  away, 
for  about  fifty  years  after  George  Schmidt  left  Africa  three  Mora¬ 
vian  missionaries  visited  the  “Glen  of  Baboons.”  They  found  there 
an  old  blind  Hottentot  woman  who  still  lovingly  remembered  her 
old  teacher.  Lena  had  carefully  kept  a  Testament  that  he  had 
given  her,  and  if  you  were  to  go  to  the  Glen  of  Baboons  you  might 
see  it,  for  it  is  carefully  treasured  in  a  box,  made  out  of  the  wood  of 
a  pear-tree,  which  George  Schmidt  planted  in  his  garden. 

And  now  the  good  work  was  taken  up  again.  God  blessed  it  so 
much  that  in  ten  or  twelve  years  the  Glen  of  Baboons  was  called 
the  “Valley  of  Grace.”  A  Dutch  governor  gave  it  that  name  be¬ 
cause  when  he  visited  the  mission  he  could  not  help  seeing  how 
much  good  the  missionaries  had  done. 

You  would  think  it  deserved  the  name,  if  only  you  could  see  it 
today.  The  schools  are  full,  and  so  is  the  church,  and  the  people 
there  are  helping  to  send  missionaries  to  those  who  do  not  yet  know 
about  Jesus. — Rivers  of  Africa,  Annie  R.  Butler. 

Second  Story. 

A  Letter  From  Totosy. 

Dear  Boys  and  Girls  of  America; — I  wonder  if  you  know  the 
meaning  of  my  name.  It  means  “a  mouse.”  I  am  a  little  Malagasy 
boy,  and  in  Madagascar,  we  have  no  family  names,  but  people  are 
called  after  birds,  animals,  or  any  familiar  objects.  I  have  a  friend 
whose  name  is  Volavo,  which  means  “a  rat.”  This  seems  very  funny 
to  you,  I  expect. 

I  am  very  glad  to  write  and  tell  you  about  my  home,  and  what 
Jesus  has  done  for  the  Malagasy  people.  My  ancestors  were  not 


46 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


savages.  We  were  always  courteous,  hospitable  to  strangers,  and 
honorable  in  our  dealings.  We  had  an  idea  that  there  was  only  one 
God,  the  Creator,  but  we  had  a  great  many  wrong  and  wicked  su¬ 
perstitions  and  idolatrous  customs.  I  have  only  time  to  write  about 
one,  and  I  choose  to  tell  of  witchcraft,  because  it  was  so  cruel  to 
children.  Our  fathers  and  mothers  loved  their  children  just  as 
dearly  as  your  fathers  and  mothers  love  you,  and  yet  if  a  baby  hap¬ 
pened  to  be  born  on  a  day  that  the  witch-doctor  had  declared  un¬ 
lucky,  he  would  say  “That  child  must  die.”  Then  the  innocent  baby 
was  killed.  You  may  imagine  how  glad  our  fathers  and  mothers 
were  to  learn  of  Jesus,  and  to  have  these  cruel  customs  abolished. 

My  island  home  is  a  most  beautiful  place.  Travellers  say  it  is 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  places  in  the  world.  I  wish  I  could  tell 
you  about  the  wonderful  trees,  flowers  and  birds,  but  I  am  sure  you 
want  to  hear  about  the  work  of  the  missionaries,  and  that  is  what  I 
love  best  to  tell. 

It  was  King  Radoma  I.  who  asked  England  to  send  us  our  first 
missionaries.  I  confess  it  was  more  for  the  knowledge  they  could 
bring  than  for  their  religion,  because  he  himself  never  accepted 
Christianity.  He  helped  the  missionaries,  however,  in  every  way 
possible,  and  was  anxious  to  overcome  the  wicked  superstition  of  hjs 
people.  The  first  missionaries  came  in  i8i8,  but  not  knowing  the 
climate,  they  came  at  the  beginning  of  the  hot  and  rainy  season,  and 
five  of  the  party  of  six  died.  Poor  Mr.  Jones  who  was  left  alone,  the 
only  Christian  in  a  heathen  land,  not  able  to  speak  their  language, 
and  overcome  by  the  death  of  wife,  child,  and  friends,  was  truly  in 
a  hard  place ;  but  God  honored  him  for  his  sacrifice,  and  wonderfully 
blessed  his  efforts  to  give  the  Gospel  to  the  boys  and  girls  of  Mada¬ 
gascar.  In  the  following  year  fourteen  missionaries  and  many 
Christian  teachers  joined  him,  and  the  great  work  was  fully  begun. 
Now  we  have  hundreds  of  churches,  with  about  one-tenth  of  our 
people  Christians.  We  have  over  one  thousand  Protestant  schools, 
with  an  attendance  of  about  137,000  children.  We  never  had  a  writ- 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


47 


ten  language,  and  even  our  kings  could  not  read  or  write  a  word, 
until  the  missionaries  came  to  teach  us,  and  even  yet  all  our  educa¬ 
tion  we  get  in  the  mission  schools,  so  we  boys  and  girls  have  many 
things  for  which  to  thank  our  Christian  teachers. 

We  Malagasy  are  very  proud  of  the  history  of  our  Church,  be¬ 
cause  we  have  had  a  chance  to  show  the  world  how  we  value  the 
religion  of  Jesus  Christ,  by  counting  it  an  honor  to  die  for  Him. 
And  this  was  how  it  happened : 

After  King  Radoma  died,  the  wicked  Queen  Ranavalona  ascended 
the  throne.  She  was  an  idolator,  and  made  it  a  capital  crime  to 
be  a  Christian.  During  twenty-six  years  of  her  reign  over  ten  thou¬ 
sand  people  suffered  martyrdom  in  all  kinds  of  terrible  ways.  Some 
were  thrown  over  cliffs,  others  burned,  some  stoned,  and  still  others 
tortured  and  speared.  But  through  all  this,  not  one  denied  Christ, 
and  the  Christians  grew  in  number  from  one  thousand  to  seven 
thousand.  After  twenty-six  years  this  queen  died,  and  from  that 
time  there  was  no  more  persecution. 

I  want  to  tell  you  of  a  pleasant  surprise  that  came  to  the  Chris¬ 
tians  one  day,  seven  years  after  the  death  of  Queen  Ranavalona. 
Our  next  two  rulers  did  not  oppose  the  missionaries,  but  they  were 
not  themselves  Christians.  Then  in  1868  Queen  Ramona  came  to 
the  throne.  It  was  known  that  she  and  her  husband  were  interested 
in  religion,  but  they  had  never  openly  accepted  Jesus.  Now  I  am 
coming  to  the  surprise.  When  Queen  Ramona  was  crowned,  instead 
of  the  scarlet  heathen  banners  usually  carried  in  the  procession, 
there  appeared  on  the  canopy  over  the  queen’s  throne  the  words 
“Glory  to  God,”  “Peace  on  Earth,”  “Good  Will  to  Men,”  “God  is 
with  us,”  and  the  Queen  had  a  large  Bible  by  her  side,  that  all  might 
see  she  had  accepted  the  teachings  of  Jesus.  Don’t  you  think  this 
was  the  nicest  surprise  she  could  have  given  us  ?  After  a  few  months 
the  queen  and  prime  minister  were  baptized,  and  all  the  idols  in  the 
country  were  burned  by  her  command.  She  built  a  beautiful  church 
near  her  palace,  and  so  on  our  beautiful  island  the  religion  of  Jesus 


48 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


is  firmly  established.  We  need  many  Christian  teachers  and 
preachers  though,  to  teach  us  more  about  the  Word  of  God.  Per¬ 
haps  when  this  letter  reaches  you  some  of  you  boys  and  girls  will 
wish  to  come.  We  shall  be  very  glad  to  see  you. 

Third  Story. 

The  Story  of  the  Uganda  Mission. 

When  Mr.  Stanley  went  to  Africa  to  carry  on  Dr.  Livingstone’s 
work,  there  were  three  things  he  made  up  his  mind  to  do :  to  explore 
the  River  Congo,  to  go  all  around  Lake  Victoria  Nyanza,  and  to  go 
all  around  Lake  Tanganika.  I  am  glad  to  tell  you  that  he  did  all  of 
'these  things.  He  found  that  Lake  Victoria  Nyanza  gave  rise  to  the 
great  Nile  River.  He  also  paid  a  visit  to  King  Mtesa  of  Uganda, 
and  this  visit  was  destined  to  mean  a  great  deal  to  the  people  of 
Uganda  and  to  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

Uganda  is  a  country  on  the  north  of  Lake  Victoria  Nyanza.  Its 
people  were  more  civilized  than  most  Africans,  and  they  are  very 
intelligent  and  attractive.  Mtesa  was  very  fond  of  Mr.  Stanley,  and 
very  willing  to  learn,  so  he  stayed  some  weeks  and  taught  him  of 
Jesus.  When  he  had  to  leave,  the  king  said,  “Send  me  some  more 
white  men  to  teach  my  people.” 

Mr.  Stanley  then  wrote  a  letter  to  an  English  newspaper,  asking 
for  missionaries  for  Lake  Nyanza.  “Here  is  your  opportunity,”  he 
said,  “embrace  it.” 

And  so  it  came  about  that  in  1876  a  missionary  party  went  out 
to  Uganda.  This  was  only  one  of  the  many  missions  begun  as  a  re- 
.  suit  of  David  Livingstone’s  life-motto.  (I  wonder  who  remembers 
what  it  was?)  Another  mission  was  started  on  Lake  Tanganika 
several  on  the  River  Congo,  and  one  on  Lake  Nyassa,  which  was 
given  the  name  of  his  birth-place,  Blantyre.  And  God  has  wonder¬ 
fully  blessed  them  all,  as  He  always  blesses  work  done  for  Him. 
And  He  also  raised  up  another  great  man  for  Africa  about  this 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


49 


time,  who,  Stanley  said,  was  the  greatest  missionary  he  had  ever 
known,  except  Livingstone. 

When  Alexander  Mackay,  for  this  was  the  great  man’s  name,  was 
sixteen,  his  mother  died.  She  left  her  Bible  for  him,  with  the  mes¬ 
sage  that  he  was  to  read  it  very  carefully.  And  as  he  read  it  for  his 
mother’s  sake  he  grew  to  love  it  dearly  for  its  own,  and  like  Moffat 
and  Livingstone,  he  longed  to  be  a  missionary. 

Then  one  day  came  a  letter,  asking  him  to  go  to  Uganda  on  Lake 
Victoria  Nyanza. 

It  took  Alexander  Mackay  two  and  one-half  years  to  reach  his 
new  home,  and  seven  missionaries  who  had  started  with  him  had  all 
gone  back  ill,  or  died.  But  do  you  think  he  was  lonely  or  fright¬ 
ened?  Not  a  bit  of  it.  He  was  too  busy  doing  all  kinds  of  work, 
and  by  and  by  two  new  missionaries  came  out,  and  this  cheered  him 
very  much. 

But  now  something  happened  which  made  the  hard  life  very  much 
more  difficult.  King  Mtesa  died,  and  his  son  Mwanga  became  king. 
He  treated  the  missionaries  very  badly  indeed,  and  even  burned 
some  of  their  servants.  Among  these  were  some  of  the  school  boys. 

“Now  pray  to  Jesus,”  said  these  wicked  executioners,  after  the 
fire  was  lighted,  “if  you  think  He  can  do  anything  for  you.” 

In  the  midst  of  their  tortures  these  poor  boys  sang  the  hymn : 

“Daily,  daily  sing  to  Jesus,  sing  my  soul  His  praises  due; 

All  He  does  deserves  our  praises,  and  our  deep  devotion  too; 

For  in  deep  humiliation  He  for  us  did  live  below ; 

Died  on  Calvary’s  cross  of  torture,  died  to  save  our  souls  from  woe.” 

One  of  these  executioners  afterwards  came  to  Mr.  Mackay  to 
learn  to  pray. 

King  Mwanga  kept  growing  worse,  till  at  last  he  made  a  bon¬ 
fire  of  the  native  Christians,  and  the  missionaries  had  to  leave  for  a 
time.  But  before  long  the  people  rebelled  at  Mwanga’s  cruelty,  and 


5° 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IX  AFRICA 


sent  him  away.  He  was  soon,  however,  brought  back  on  the  condi¬ 
tion  that  he  choose  Christian  advisers.  And  now  the  missionaries 
had  things  very  much  as  they  wished. 

Very  soon  however  God  took  Mr.  Mackay  to  his  home  in  Heaven. 
His  work  was  finished.  For  many  years  at  the  risk  of  his  own  life,  he 
had  held  the  Uganda  door  open  for  Christ.  And  now  Christ  had 
come  in.  At  present  they  have  a  steamer  on  Lake  Nyanza,  and 
many  lady  missionaries  are  to  be  found  in  Uganda.  They  have  a 
hospital,  and  churches  that  hold  several  thousand  people.  In  one 
y'ear  alone  8,000  persons  were  baptized. 


Questions  on  Chapter  V. 

1.  Who  was  the  first  missionary  to  South  Africa? 

2.  Tell  the  story  of  how  the  “Glen  of  Baboons”  changed  its 
name. 

<1 

3.  What  new  name  did  the  Dutch  governor  give  it? 

4.  Where  is  the  island  of  Madagascar? 

5.  What  kind  of  a  place  is  it,  and  what  are  its  people  like? 

6.  Tell  the  story  of  a  poor  baby  born  on  an  unlucky  day. 

7.  What  has  done  away  with  those  wicked  customs? 

8.  What  happened  to  the  first  missionaries  who  went  to  Mada¬ 
gascar  ? 

9.  When  King  Radoma  I.  died,  what  happened  to  the  Chris¬ 
tians  ? 

10.  Tell  something  about  the  next  twenty-six  years. 

11.  Why  was  Totosy  proud  of  the  Christians? 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


5r 

12.  Can  you  tell  the  story  of  the  surprise  that  came  in  1868? 

13.  Don’t  you  think  this  little  Alalagasy  boy  has  a  great  deal  to 
thank  Jesus  for? 

14.  Who  was  the  first  explorer  to  visit  Uganda? 

15.  What  are  the  Woganda,  as  the  people  of  Uganda  are  called, 
like? 

16.  What  great  man  gave  his  life  to  the  Uganda  mission? 

17.  Tell  the  story  of  the  brave  boys  who  were  burned  alive? 

18.  How  is  the  Uganda  mission  getting  on  at  present? 

19.  Name  some  other  missions  which  grew  out  of  David  Liv¬ 
ingstone’s  work  in  Africa. 


Chapter  VI. 

An  African  Palaver. 

Scripture  Lesson,  Matt,  25:  14-29. 


To  THE  Leader: — 

The  aim  of  this  lesson  is  to  awaken  enthusiasm  in  the  children  so 
that  they  will  make  it  a  bright  and  lively  conversation  on  what  they 
have  learned  of  Africa  and  its  needs.  The  parts  given  may  be  pre¬ 
pared  before  the  meeting,  but  do  not  hesitate  to  bring  in  other  topics 
and  remarks  suggested  by  the  book  in  addition  to  those  outlined. 
This  lesson  should  be  a  review  of  the  six  months’  study.  The  leader 
must  feel  the  responsibility  of  directing  and  giving  point  to  the  dis¬ 
cussion. 

The  chief,  as  soon  as  he  is  elected,  should  be  given  a  seat  in  the 
centre  of  the  platform,  and  as  his  advisers  are  appointed  they  should 
be  placed  in  a  group  around  him.  The  leader  should  be  a  member 
of  the  group. 

Introductory  talk  by  leader : 

Perhaps  you  would  like  me  to  tell  you  what  an  African  palaver  is 
really  like.  The  word  means  a  “talking  place.”  In  Africa,  though 
the  tribes  do  not  govern  themselves  independently,  yet  each  is  al¬ 
lowed  its  “palaver.”  It  consists  of  a  wooden  platform,  raised  a  few 
feet  from  the  ground,  usually  built  under  a  wide-spreading  tree. 
Here  the  old  chief  calls  his  head  men  and  sometimes  his  whole  tribe 
together  to  discuss  important  questions,  settle  quarrels,  or  pass 
judgment  upon  criminals. 

Our  “palaver”  today  is  to  discuss  some  very  important  matters. 
We  shall  now  proceed  to  elect  a  chief,  and  then  he  may  appoint  his 
advisers,  or  talkers,  unless  you  prefer  to  elect  them  all.  You  may 
do  as  you  like  about  that. 

We  have  learned  many  things  of  Africa  and  its  people  in  these 
past  months,  and  we  have  all  become  very  much  interested  in  the 
needs  of  that  great  country.  Today  we  are  to  talk  over  what  we 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


53 


have  learned,  and  try  to  find  out  what  Jesus  wants  the  young  people 
of  Christian  America  to  do  for  the  boys  and  girls  of  Congo-land, 
who  do  not  yet  know  Him, 

(Election  of  members  of  Palaver.) 

Chief,  speaking  to  members  of  Palaver  : 

I  have  called  you  together  this  afternoon  that  we  might  have  a 
“big  talk,”  as  the  Africans  say,  about  our  dark-skinned  cousins 
in  Africa.  I  for  one  have  become  very  much  interested  in  them 
and  the  work  of  our  missionaries.  I  think  we  have  reason  to  be 
proud  of  the  great  work  that  has  been  done  there,  and  I  should  like 
to  talk  things  over,  and  see  what  we  can  do  to  help  them.  This 
study  has  made  me  very  glad  that  I  am  an  American  boy  and  not 
an  African. 

First  Speaker: — So  am  1.  How  sad  it  must  be  to  live  in  a  coun¬ 
try  where  nobody  ever  sings  or  speaks  of  Jesus.  Just  think  how  we 
should  miss  all  our  Bible  stories  of  Moses,  Joseph,  David,  and  all 
the  others  we  have  heard  our  mothers  tell.  The  only  stories  children 
hear  in  Africa  are  about  murders,  witchcraft,  and  all  sorts  of 
dreadful  things.  We  could  not  bear  to  listen  to  them. 

Second  Speaker  : — Then  think  of  how  we  should  miss  our  beau¬ 
tiful  Christmas  and  Easter  seasons.  The  boys  and  girls  in  Congo 
have  no  Christmas  tree  nor  Christmas  gifts  and  more  than  all  they 
know  nothing  of  the  sweet  message  which  comes  to  us  at  the 
Christmastide  of  “Peace  on  Earth,  Good  Will  to  Men.”  O,  I  am 
glad  I  am  an  American  boy. 

Third  Speaker: — Listen  to  what  Mr.  Richards  says  of  their 
need  of  Jesus.  (Reads  from  Chapter  HI.,  page  27.) 

Fourth  Speaker: — I  should  not  like  to  see  my  mother  looked 
down  upon  and  made  a  drudge.  There  can  be  no  happy  home-life  at 
all.  How  sorry  I  am  for  them. 


54 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


Fifth  Speaker: — I  think  I  feel  worst  about  the  witch-doctors. 
They  are  so  cruel,  and  they  impose  so  upon  the  ignorance  and  su¬ 
perstition  of  the  people. 

Sixth  Speaker  : — O,  I  think  the  wicked  slave  trade  is  even 
worse.  How  the  children  must  feel  when  they  see  a  band  of  Arab 
traders  appear,  for  then  their  village  is  destroyed,  and  all  the  peo¬ 
ple  taken  as  slaves.  Many  a  little  child  never  sees  his  mother  or 
father  again.  (Read  description  of  a  slave  march  found  on  page 
20.) 

Seventh  Speaker  : — And  there  is  another  cause  of  trouble  now 
which  is  even  worse  than  the  slave  trade.  Some  years  ago  the  King 
of  Belgium  purchased  the  great  section  of  country  known  as  the 
Congo  Free  State.  He  claimed  that  he  was  going  to  put  down  the 
slave  trade,  and  work  to  civilize  and  uplift  the  natives.  Travellers, 
however,  and  people  who  have  gone  there  to  investigate,  say  that 
the  state  of  things  is  very  bad  indeed.  Those  in  authority  are  very 
anxious  for  the  ivory  and  rubber,  which  commands  a  high  price, 
and  they  compel  the  poor  people  to  bring  large  quantities  to  them 
for  which  they  pay  scarcely  anything.  If  for  any  reason  the  re¬ 
quired  amount  is  not  forthcoming,  the  soldiers  are  very  cruel  to  the 
women  and  children,  as  well  as  the  men.  The  cruelty  in  many 
cases  is  perfectly  appalling,  and  I  long  for  the  time  when  the  Chris¬ 
tian  nations  will  compel  the  King  of  Belgium  to  stop  this  great  wick¬ 
edness.  No  wonder  Africa  is  called  the  “dark  continent.” 

Eighth  Speaker: — Yes,  they  certainly  are  in  great  darkness,  but 
there  are  some  lights  already  which  shed  their  radiance  a  long  way, 
and  by  and  by  there  will  be  many  more.  How  happy  our  mission¬ 
aries  must  feel  when  they  see  the  change,  which,  with  God’s  help, 
they  are  able  to  bring  about.  Let  us  name  some  of  these  lights  which 
shine  in  dark  places.  (Here  names  of  missionaries  in  Africa  shoufd 
be  taught,  and  if  possible  put  upon  the  blackboard.) 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


55 


Ninth  Speaker: — In  no  country  are  the  people  more  willing  to 
be  taught.  I  like  to  read  the  missionaries’  letters  in  Chapter  four. 
Every  child  is  so  anxious  to  tell  others  of  Jesus  as  soon  as  he  hears. 
Do  you  remember  Mbadala,  of  whom  Mrs.  Hill  wrote?  I  wonder 
if  we  are  as  anxious  to  bring  others  to  the  Saviour. 

Tentpi  Speaker: — I  like  to  think  of  the  little  boy  at  Kindombi 
who  preaches  and  teaches  so  many  people,  and  then  walks  twenty 
miles  to  Lukunga  every  two  months  with  the  church  collection.  I 
think  he  is  a  hero. 

Eleventh  Speaker  : — Suppose  we  each  choose  our  favorite  hero 
in  the  book,  I  think  mine  is  Mr.  Richards,  because  he  worked  so 
hard  for  so  long  with  nothing  to  encourage  him.  An  ordinary  man 
would  have  given  up  before  seven  years,  but  because  he  was  a  hero 
he  went  on  working  until  at  last  God  gave  him  such  wonderful  re¬ 
sults. 

(The  leader  here  should  arrange  for  an  expression  of  opinion  from 
each  member  of  circle.  Try  to  bring  out  the  different  forms  of  hero¬ 
ism  in  the  various  missionaries  and  explorers.  By  the  reading  of 
selected  passages  at  the  leader’s  suggestion  a  brief  review  should 
be  obtained  of  Schmidt,  Moffat,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Livingstone,  Stanley, 
and  as  many  as  the  time  will  allow.) 

Twelfth  Speaker: — I  wish  we  could  do  something  to  help  in 
this  great  work  in  Africa.  We  are  only  children,  but  I  think  we 
could  do  very  much  if  we  really  tried. 

Thirteenth  Speaker: — We  can  certainly  pray  for  them,  and 
Jesus  has  promised  that  “Whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  in  my  name,  that 
will  I  do.”  He  said  also,  “All  power  is  given  unto  me.”  So  if  we 
ask  Him,  He  can  do  wonderful  things  to  help  these  poor  people 
and  I  intend  to  ask  Him  every  day. 


56 


YOUNG  EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA 


Fourteenth  Speaker: — Yes,  Jesus  says  we  are  to  “pray  the 
Lord  of  the  harvest  that  He  will  send  forth  laborers  into  His  har¬ 
vest.”  I  am  going  to  ask  Him  to  send  more  missionaries  to  Africa. 

Fifteenth  Speaker  : — So  am  I.  And  when  we  have  the  mission¬ 
aries  we  must  also  have  money  to  send  them  and  pay  expenses,  so  I 
shall  ask  also  that  God  will  show  people  how  to  give  their  money 
for  -his  great  object. 

Sixteenth  Speaker: — I  wonder  if  we  Juniors  are  giving  all  we 
can.  I  am  going  to  try  to  sacrifice  something  to  give  more  to  mis¬ 
sions  in  Africa. 

Leader  : — Jesus  may  tell  some  of  us  that  He  wants  us  to  give 
ourselves.  Did  you  ever  think  about  that.?  Dr.  Catharine  Mabie 
wrote  us  last  year  about  how  God  called  her  when  she  was  just  a 
little  girl.  She  said  that  sometimes  she  thought- He  was  mistaken, 
but  she  knows  now  that  He  wasn’t.  We  will  just  ask  Him  to  make 
us  willing  to  go  or  do  anything  He  wishes,  and  then  we  shall  be  sure 
to  do  what  is  rigfht  and  best. 

o 


-■*: ',4\<?-'v'  '  4. /'v,  ''  ' 

;T*'  H -U  ,  ''''>’  . 


